a market-town of Switzerland, canton of Schwitz, on the Sihl, 9 miles N.N.E. of Schwitz. Pop. about 5000. Above the town, on a naked plain 3000 feet above the level of the sea, stands the famous Benedictine Abbey of Einsiedeln. It was founded in 906, but has been several times rebuilt, the present edifice dating from 1719. The building is in the modern Italian style, but is more remarkable for size than for architectural beauty. It has many spacious apartments, a library of 26,000 volumes, a museum, and a marble chapel with an image of the Virgin. The treasury was plundered by the French in 1798. Numerous pilgrims, not only from Switzerland but also from other countries, annually resort to this abbey, particularly on the 14th September. The annual average is about 150,000; and within a fortnight in 1834 no fewer than 36,000 pilgrims repaired to the shrine. The town contains about 50 or 60 inns, chiefly for the reception of pilgrims. Paracelsus was born here; and Zuingleins was for some time curate of Einsiedeln.