St. Georgenberg Monastery (Frankenberg)
| St. Georgenberg Monastery | |
|---|---|
 St. Georgenberg Monastery |
|
| location |
 Germany Hessen |
| Lies in the diocese | formerly the Archdiocese of Mainz , today Fulda |
| Coordinates: | 51 ° 3 '24.8 " N , 8 ° 47' 31.5" E |
| founding year | 1242 |
| Year of dissolution / annulment |
1527 |
|
Daughter monasteries |
no |
The monastery of St. George Mountain (lat. Monasterium Mons Sancti Georgii ) is a former Cistercian - Abbey under the patronage of St. Mauritius in the North Hessian town of Frankenberg in Waldeck-Frankenberg . The three-wing building complex is now the seat of an administrative branch of the district.
founding
In 1242 Konrad von Itter founded the Butzebach nunnery (sometimes also called Butzkirchen) in a secluded wooded area ( see Nuhn Castle ) in the Nuhne valley , the so-called "Butzebach", about 6 kilometers north of Frankenberg between the present-day localities of Schreufa (district von Frankenberg) and Sachsenberg (district of Lichtenfels (Hesse) ).
A little more than six years later, in 1249, the monastery was relocated to the west of the gates of the town of Frankenberg, founded by Landgrave Konrad von Thuringia in 1233/1234 , to the place of the deserted area of Hadebrandsdorf. The fortified city with its castle offered better protection, and a concentration of Hessian possessions in and around Frankenberg represented a stronger counterweight to the Electoral Mainz possessions and territorial claims in the upper Eder area . Economic considerations certainly played a role in the relocation, because the The economic basis of the monastery in Butzebach was so weak that its future was seriously endangered. In fact, the situation of the convent improved very quickly as a result: two estates in the immediate vicinity formed the basis, and over time, possessions in around 90 localities were added through donations and inheritances. The abbot of Haina carried out repeated visitations in the Georgenberg convent, the direct line was the abbess on site.
Yet St. Georgenberg was never a large or rich monastery. According to an order from the Archbishop of Mainz, Peter von Aspelt, from 1308, it should have a maximum of 36 sisters. At times, however, more than 50 nuns lived there. Most of them were members of the lower nobility from the area, for whom a befitting and economically secure supply was guaranteed in this way.
Repeal
After Landgrave Philipp the Magnanimous had introduced the Reformation in the Landgraviate of Hesse in 1527 , the monastery was secularized , with the remaining Cistercian women being allowed to stay there until their death. In 1568 the last nuns handed the monastery over to the landgrave. The last nun died in 1581.
Later use
The monastery buildings, the structure of which dates from the 13th to 17th centuries, were mostly used as the seat of state authorities in the following years, starting with the landgrave's administrative office, which was housed there in the late 16th century. The monastery inventory was lost over time, mainly due to looting during wartime. However, the facility itself was well preserved. The University of Marburg used the former monastery several times as an alternative quarter, in particular to continue teaching during the plague or other epidemics. Between 1688 and 1702 the monastery chapel served as a place of worship for French religious refugees. Later the buildings were the seat of the state forest administration and the district court with prison. A local history museum has been located in the north wing with the Mauritius Chapel since 1952.
From 1902 to 1974 the complex served as the seat of the district office of the Frankenberg district. With the creation of the Waldeck-Frankenberg district, it became a branch of the district administration. A low-rise office wing added in the 1960s is no longer perceived as a successful combination of historical and modern construction.
literature
- Johannes Burkard: Frankenberg, Georgenberg . In: The monastic and nunnery monasteries of the Cistercians in Hesse and Thuringia , vol. 1, edited by Friedhelm Jürgensmeier and Regina Elisabeth Schwerdtfeger (= Germania Benedictina , vol. IV / 1: Hesse and Thuringia). EOS Verlag, St. Ottilien 2011, pp. 706-716, ISBN 978-3-8306-7450-4 .
- Christina Vanja : The Cistercian convent St. Georgenberg in Frankenberg an der Eder. Frankenberg 1988, ISBN 3-922225-10-1 .
- Gustav Hammann: The Cistercian convent St. Georgenberg zu Frankenberg. Its history in 730 years. Published by the district committee of the Frankenberg district, Frankenberg / Eder 1973.
