St. Marien, Romanesque church in Klostermansfeld, Germany.

St. Marien, the Klosterkirche Klostermansfeld, is a Romanesque church of rough grey-brown stone with a red-tiled roof; its tower at the right end carries a clock with gold numerals, a weather vane and a golden ball. The nave is tall and narrow under dark wooden beams, with a rounded arch to a side aisle and a narrower chancel arch framing the altar and its small painted triptych.

A Benedictine monastery was probably founded around 1140, and by 1158 it was a priory of the monastery of S. Maria in the Valley of Josaphat in Jerusalem. The monastery church was rebuilt around 1170. The monastery was destroyed in the Peasants' War of 1525, and during the 16th century the side aisles and the transept gables were demolished. Restoration between 1960 and 1970 removed 18th- and 19th-century fittings.

The church is a station on the Straße der Romanik, the tourist route linking Romanesque buildings in Saxony-Anhalt. Its name recalls the Benedictine monastery that stood here, and the parish still belongs to the Mansfeld parish area of the Eisleben-Sömmerda church district. Inside, look for the late-Gothic carved altar of the late 15th century, with the Coronation of Mary in the central shrine and two saints on each wing.

The church is a station on the Straße der Romanik, so it can be combined with other Romanesque sites in the region. The interior was cleared of 18th- and 19th-century fittings in the restoration of 1960–1970, leaving the Romanesque stonework visible. Look for the building seam where the Gothic choir extension meets the older choir, visible both inside and outside.

The monastery founded around 1140 was already a priory of the Abbey of Saint Mary in the Valley of Josaphat in Jerusalem by 1158, so its monks answered to a house in the Holy Land. The church itself was rebuilt around 1170. The monastery was destroyed in the Peasants' War of 1525.