Jerichow Monastery, Romanesque monastery in Jerichow, Germany

Jerichow Monastery is a Premonstratensian foundation whose brick church of St. Mary and St. Nicholas is a flat-roofed basilica with a crypt, transept and three-part choir. The west front has two 59-metre towers built from 1256, and the interior hall shows round columns with simple capitals and a pale stone basin holding yellow flowers.

Dompropst Hartwig von Bremen founded the Premonstratensian house in 1144 near Jerichow's market; the first canons came from Magdeburg's Liebfrauenstift. In 1148 it was moved outside the town, and construction of the collegiate church began in 1149. Under Provost Isfried the church and east wing were completed by 1172, and the two 59-metre towers were added in front of the church from 1256 to 1262.

The canons followed the Rule of St. Augustine and served eleven parishes from Jerichow, which was also an archdeaconry seat. The order's Saxon circary included the house, and canons from Jerichow likely helped found Gramzow in 1176/77. The name 'monastery' is customary, though Jerichow was technically a Premonstratensian provostry of canons, not a monks' abbey.

Visit during daylight hours to explore the museum displays about medieval construction methods and to walk the themed gardens at your own pace. A café on the grounds provides rest and refreshment.

Italian builders took part in the early construction of the church, a direct transfer of technique and style documented at only a very few sites in northern Germany. The two west towers, 59 m high and built from 1256, already show Gothic window forms, while the rounded apses keep slightly pointed half-domes.