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The Witness - The Monastery Puzzle Solution

Images and solutions for every puzzle in The Witness in this complete walkthrough and puzzle guide.

Guide by Larryn Bell Contributor
Additional contributions by Bill Lavoy
Updated on

The Monastery Puzzle in The Witness is much shorter than the previous areas, offering an easier way to construct another light beam with minimal effort. The Monastery Puzzle is located near the Town, across the water from The First Puzzle where you began the game. Follow this Monastery Puzzle solution walkthrough and you'll complete this section in no time.

The Witness - The Monastery Puzzle Solution Walkthrough

The Monastery Puzzle utilizes a unique stencil feature that requires you to shift your perspective in order to arrive at the solutions. Given that this puzzle is so short, it’s likely that the skills you gain from this puzzle will need to be applied elsewhere later on.

Begin this puzzle by ascending the large set of stairs at the front of the Monastery. The gate closest to the outer waterfall is actually the back side of the Monastery, so if you are coming from this gate, you will need to walk around to the front of the building to unlock the main door.

Approach the hole in the grate on the left to solve the simple line puzzle panel on the inside, then do the same for the panel in the hole on the right. Solving these two panels will open the main double layered doors into the Monastery.

Enter the Monastery, and walk around the large tree in the center to discover a small bonsai tree at a table on the back side. The outer edge of the bonsai table is actually a puzzle, the solution to which is shown below.

Solving the puzzle on the bonsai table causes several shudders on the side wall to open, revealing stencil-like wall patterns. There are three puzzle panels on the outside of the building, which can be seen through the holes in the wall stencils. Approach each stencil to line up their pattern with the panel graph behind it to uncover the correct patterns. The first two panel solutions are shown below.

The third stencil pattern is blocked by debris on the inside. Exit the Monastery building and walk around to where the panels are on the outer wall.

For the last panel, you will need to look at the pattern on the wall stencil from outside, then either memorize or jot down the pattern to use on the puzzle panel. We have also put the solution here for you. Solving these three panels opens a gate to a side garden, though we won't reveal what secrets hide here just yet.

Enter the Monastery once again to find that a new puzzle panel has become available on the right. The same stencil idea applies here, but with a slight variation. While facing the puzzle panel, line up the nearby tree branches with the panel graph to reveal the necessary pattern for solving the puzzle. Use the leaves to block out sections of the panel, showing a clear path for solving the puzzle.

Turn around and do the same with the puzzle panel on the adjacent corner, only this time use the naked branches rather than the ones with leaves. If done correctly, the branches should cross over the unnecessary parts of the graph, leaving only the solution.

For the third puzzle panel around the large tree, you will need to align the tree branches exactly over the panel graph lines. This reveals the actual path you must take to solve the puzzle. Since the branches overlap the puzzle lines, you can’t solve the puzzle while the branches are aligned over the top. Visualize or sketch the path to solve the puzzle, or simply refer to our solution below.

The final corner puzzle is a bit trickier, since part of the clue seems to be missing. Align the branches over top as you did before to reveal the initial path. You can try to arrive at the solution on your own, but feel free to peek at our solution if necessary.

Once the final corner puzzle is complete, exit the Monastery and head to the back side of the building, toward the waterfall. Solve the linear puzzle on the back of the shrine to complete The Monastery Puzzle and activate a new light beam.