St. Marienthal Abbey (german: Kloster St. Marienthal) is a

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 ...

nunnery A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican C ...

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

Upper Lusatia Upper Lusatia (german: Oberlausitz ; hsb, Hornja Łužica ; dsb, Górna Łužyca; szl, Gōrnŏ Łużyca; pl, Łużyce Górne or ''Milsko''; cz, Horní Lužice) is a historical region in Germany and Poland. Along with Lower Lusatia to the ...

. The abbey is the oldest nunnery of the Cistercian Order in Germany to have maintained unbroken occupation of its house since its foundation. St. Marienthal is located to the south of

Ostritz Ostritz (, hsb, Wostrowc) is a town in the district Görlitz, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the border with Poland, on the left bank of the Lusatian Neisse, 16 km south of Görlitz. It was the scene of a small battle in the Seven ...

on the left bank of the

Neisse The Lusatian Neisse (german: Lausitzer Neiße; pl, Nysa Łużycka; cs, Lužická Nisa; Upper Sorbian: ''Łužiska Nysa''; Lower Sorbian: ''Łužyska Nysa''), or Western Neisse, is a river in northern Central Europe.Görlitz Görlitz (; pl, Zgorzelec, hsb, Zhorjelc, cz, Zhořelec, :de:Ostlausitzer Mundart, East Lusatian dialect: ''Gerlz'', ''Gerltz'', ''Gerltsch'') is a town in the Germany, German state of Saxony. It is located on the Lusatian Neisse River, and ...

is about 20 kilometres away.

History

The abbey was founded in 1234 by

Kunigunde of Hohenstaufen Kunigunde of Hohenstaufen or Kunigunde of Swabia (german: Kunigunde von Staufen or Kunigunde von Schwaben, cz, Kunhuta Štaufská or Kunhuta Švábská) (February/March 1202 – 13 September 1248) was the third daughter of Philip, Duke of Swabia ...

, daughter of

Philip of Swabia Philip of Swabia (February/March 1177 – 21 June 1208) was a member of the House of Hohenstaufen and King of Germany from 1198 until his assassination. The death of his older brother Emperor Henry VI in 1197 meant that the Hohenstaufen rule (whi ...

and wife of Wenceslas I of Bohemia, near a trade route that ran from Prague to Görlitz via Zittau. As early as 1235 the new foundation was incorporated into the Cistercian Order, with the abbot of

Altzella Altzella Abbey, also Altzelle Abbey (german: Kloster Altzella or ''Altzelle'', previously ''Cella'' or ''Cella Sanctae Mariae''), is a former Cistercian monastery near Nossen in Saxony, Germany. The former abbey contains the tombs of the Wetti ...

acting as visitor. The first documented

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic ...

of St. Marienthal Abbey was the noblewoman Adelheid I. von Dohna (Donyn), daughter of

Burgrave Burgrave, also rendered as burggrave (from german: Burggraf, la, burgravius, burggravius, burcgravius, burgicomes, also praefectus), was since the medieval period in Europe (mainly Germany) the official title for the ruler of a castle, especia ...

Otto von Dohna (Donyn). The abbey was destroyed during the

Hussite Wars The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, European monarchs loyal to the Cat ...

in 1427, and not rebuilt until 1452. It was damaged by fire in 1515, 1542 and (particularly seriously) in 1683. Rebuilding in the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

style began in 1685. The Baroque church interior suffered extensive damage in a flood of the Neisse in 1897. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the buildings were used as a military hospital. In 1945 the retreating German forces wanted to blow up the abbey to hinder the advance of the Russians, but the nuns refused to leave, and the building was spared. The abbey survived the Communist

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

régime and after 1989 spent large sums on restoration and developing the facilities. In August 2010 however another flood of the Neisse caused catastrophic damage.

Bibliography

* Dannenberg, Lars-Arne (2008): ''Das Kloster St. Marienthal und die Burggrafen von Dohna''. in: Neues Lausitzisches Magazin 11 (2008), pp. 89–104 * Schlesinger, Walter (ed.) (1965): ''Handbuch der historischen Stätten: Sachsen''. Stuttgart * Schmacht, Josefine (2004): ''Die Zisterzienserinnen-Abtei St. Marienthal von 1800 bis 2000 im Spiegel ihrer Äbtissinnen''. StadtBILD-Verlag: Görlitz * Schönfelder, J.B. (1834): ''Urkundliche Geschichte des Königlichen Jungfrauenstifts und Klosters St. Marienthal in der Königlich-Sächsischen Oberlausitz''. Zittau * Zdichynec, Jan (2003): ''Klášter Marienthal mezi králi, městy a šlechtou (1234–1547)''. In: Bobková, Lenka (ed.): Korunní země v dějinách českého státu, vol. 1: Integrační a partikulární rysy českého státu v pozdním středověku, pp. 166–218. Prague

References

External links

St. Marienthal Abbey official websiteInternational Meeting Centre with conferences and workshops St. MarienthalServices of St. Marienthal (spirituality, accommodation, education, shop, sightseeing tours, food)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marienthal Abbey 1230s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1234 establishments in Europe Cistercian nunneries in Germany Monasteries in Saxony Christian monasteries established in the 13th century Görlitz (district)