Kloster Mariensee, Cistercian monastery and museum in Neustadt am Rübenberge, Germany.
Kloster Mariensee is a Cistercian women's monastery in Neustadt am Rübenberge, Lower Saxony, that still functions as a religious community and houses a museum. The complex groups a medieval church, residential buildings and service wings around a central courtyard, most of which date from the 18th century.
Bernard II of Wölpe founded the monastery in 1213 as a Cistercian women's community and endowed it with substantial land. The community survived the Reformation by converting to a Lutheran foundation and has continued in that form to the present day.
The name Mariensee refers to a small lake near which the convent was founded in honor of Mary. The church still holds medieval artworks that visitors can see during a guided tour.
The monastery can only be visited on a guided tour, which are offered regularly throughout the year. A shop on site sells books and handmade goods, and the complex also hosts concerts and temporary exhibitions.
A handwritten prayer book belonging to Abbess Odilie, dated 1522, survived to the present and gives a rare look at personal devotion just before the Reformation reshaped the region. The book contains prayers and private practices that almost no other document from this area records.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
