Bottenbroich Abbey, later Bottenbroich Priory (german: Kloster Bottenbroich), was a former

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

religious house located in Bottenbroich, now in

Frechen Frechen (; Ripuarian: ''Frechem'') is a town in the Rhein-Erft District, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Frechen was first mentioned in 877. It is situated at the western Cologne city border. It is the site of the 1257 Battle of Frechen betwee ...

, about three kilometres north-east of

Kerpen Kerpen (; Ripuarian: ''Kerpe'') is the most populated town in the Rhein-Erft-Kreis (North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany). It is located about 20 kilometres southwest from Cologne. Division of the town The town of Kerpen was created in 1975, whe ...

, in the present

Rhein-Erft-Kreis The Rhein-Erft-Kreis ( ksh, Rhing-Ärff-Kries) is a district in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Neuss, district-free Cologne, Rhein-Sieg, Euskirchen, Düren. History The district in its current borders was ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

History

Bottenbroich Abbey was founded in either 1231 or 1234 by Provost Gottfried of Münstereifel as a

Cistercian nunnery Cistercian nuns are female members of the Cistercian Order, a religious order belonging to the Roman Catholic branch of the Catholic Church. History The first Cistercian monastery for women, Le Tart Abbey, was established at Tart-l'Abbaye in t ...

, under the supervision of

Kamp Abbey Kamp Abbey (Kloster Kamp), also known as Altenkamp Abbey or Alt(en)feld Abbey (and in English formerly Camp Abbey) was the first Cistercian monastery founded in German territory, in the present town of Kamp-Lintfort in North Rhine-Westphalia. H ...

. Thanks to an image of the

Pietà The Pietà (; meaning "pity", "compassion") is a subject in Christian art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus after his body was removed from the cross. It is most often found in sculpture. The Pietà is a specific form o ...

of 1420, the place became a centre for the veneration of the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...

. In 1448 the abbey fell into financial distress and its administration was handed over to Kamp Abbey, who re-settled it as a dependent priory of monks and restored its financial well-being. With the support of the von Hemmersbach family, who used Bottenbroich as their family monastery and place of burial, a new church was built, which was consecrated in 1484. Between 1480 and 1486 the monks of Bottenbroich established

Mariawald Abbey Mariawald Abbey (german: link=no, Abtei Mariawald) was a monastery of the Trappists (formally known as the Cistercians of the Strict Observance), located above the village of Heimbach, in the district of Düren in the Eifel, in the forests ar ...

to oversee another Marian pilgrimage site. In 1777 the priory was subordinated to

Marienstatt Abbey Marienstatt Abbey (German: Abtei Marienstatt, Latin: ''Abbatia Loci Sanctae Mariæ'') is a Cistercian monastery and a pilgrimage site in Streithausen, Westerwaldkreis, Rhineland-Palatinate, in the Nister valley near Hachenburg. The abbey has an e ...

, and established as a provostry; the monks were re-settled to Marienstatt and Mariawald Abbeys. Bottenbroich Priory was dissolved in 1802 during the course of the general secularisation of this part of Germany. The monastic church became the parish church. In 1951 the entire village of Bottenbroich, including the former monastic church and all other structural remains of the monastery, was demolished to make way for the Frechen

brown coal Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...

strip mine Surface mining, including strip mining, open-pit mining and mountaintop removal mining, is a broad category of mining in which soil and rock overlying the mineral deposit (the overburden) are removed, in contrast to underground mining, in which ...

(''Tagebau''), and the inhabitants moved to Neu-Bottenbroich. The medieval

is now situated in the Church of the Assumption (''Mariä Himmelfahrt'') in Grefrath in Frechen.

Present day

Sonnenuhr Marienfeld Kloster Bottenbroich

In 2004 the site of the church, which in the meantime had been re-cultivated, was named ''Marienfeld'' in commemoration of its former significance as a pilgrimage destination. In September 2006 in the presence of the monks of

Stiepel Priory Stiepel Priory is a Cistercian monastery in Stiepel in Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in 1988 at the instigation of Franz Hengsbach, first Bishop of the Diocese of the Ruhr. It is a dependent house of Heiligenkreuz Abbe ...

Bochum Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous Germany, German federal state o ...

sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...

was set up as a memorial in the ''Marienfeld'' on the site of the former monastery, bearing the arms of

Morimond Abbey Morimond Abbey is a religious complex in Parnoy-en-Bassigny, Haute-Marne department, in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France. It was the fourth of the four great daughter abbeys of Cîteaux Abbey, of primary importance in the spread of the Cis ...

, mother house of Kamp Abbey.

Sources

Die Pfarre Heilig - Geist Neubottenbroich

Idee einer Nachnutzung für das Kerpener Marienfeld (pdf)

Destination Marienfeld (pdf)

Verlorene Orte, untergegangene Dörfer, überbaggert und devastiert, Vom Tagebau zerstörte Ortschaften
{{Coord, 50.885, N, 6.738056, E, region:DE-NW_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title, format=dms Cistercian nunneries in Germany Cistercian monasteries in Germany Monasteries in North Rhine-Westphalia Christian monasteries established in the 13th century 1231 establishments in Europe 1230s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1802 disestablishments in the Holy Roman Empire Buildings and structures in Rhein-Erft-Kreis