Klosterkirche St. Marien, Romanesque church in Doberlug-Kirchhain, Germany

The Klosterkirche St. Marien is a late-Romanesque, three-nave pillared basilica with a cruciform plan, built of carefully layered brick. It has a square crossing, a nearly square choir with a slightly recessed apse, and a five-bay nave linked to the aisles by massive arcades. A building seam above the nave arcades shows the transept and nave were raised higher than first planned.

Construction began in 1184 as part of Dobrilugk Abbey and was consecrated in 1228 under monastic administration. The structure has endured through centuries and shows in its forms the influences of different artistic periods.

The church has served the Protestant parish of Doberlug since 1675, when it was reconsecrated as a castle church. Inside, the late Historicist furnishings installed by architect Carl Weber between 1905 and 1909 contrast with the plain Cistercian shell; the main altar was brought in from another church. Only the ducal box in the south transept survives from the 17th-century Baroque fittings.

Access to the church is typically available Tuesday through Saturday afternoons and on Sundays, though opening hours may vary with the seasons. Visitors should remember this is a religious building and behave respectfully.

The apses were divided outside by semi-columns with a chequerboard ornament, and the masonry points to Italian models: the founder Dietrich II is documented in Cremona during Frederick Barbarossa's Italian campaigns, and the stonework resembles churches near Cremona.