Benedictine Abbey of Abdinghof, Paderborn, Benedictine monastery in Paderborn, Germany
The Benedictine Abbey of Abdinghof is a monastery complex in the center of Paderborn, made up of a church with Gothic elements and several wings arranged around a central courtyard. The church has a nave, side aisles, and a choir that reflect different building phases from the medieval period.
The monastery was founded in 1015 and quickly grew into a major religious center with land holdings across the Weser region and along the Lower Rhine. During the Reformation in the 16th century, it was secularized and passed into Protestant hands.
The abbey church is today used as a Protestant-Lutheran parish church, which makes it unusual among former Benedictine foundations. Visitors can attend regular Sunday services and experience how a medieval monastic space functions as an active congregation today.
The church is generally open to visitors during the day, and the courtyard can be accessed from the street. Arriving in the morning gives a better chance to view the building without many other people around.
The neo-Gothic furnishings installed during the renovation of the 1880s came from a period when many German churches were being deliberately styled to look medieval. Ironically, it is largely these 19th-century additions that give the interior its medieval feel today.
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