Marienstuhl Monastery

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The Marienstuhl Monastery (Sedis S. Marie) before Egeln was a Cistercian convent in what is now the German state of Saxony-Anhalt .

history

At the instigation of his wife, Jutta von Blankenburg, the noble lord Otto von Hadmersleben founded the Marienstuhl Monastery on March 14, 1259 so that consecrated virgins should serve there according to the rule of St. Bernard of Clairvaux in the Order of Cisterz. The first abbess was Mechthild von Blankenburg, the sister of Countess Jutta. The buildings of the former Cistercian convent Marienstuhl, which are still preserved today, were erected between 1696 and 1734;

Thanks to extensive foundations, the monastery soon achieved economic independence. Since the rule of the Cistercians, in addition to devotion and prayer, also stipulates gardening, the monastery cultivated and raised cattle. There was also a medicinal herb farm , a pharmacy , an infirmary , a parament embroidery , the monastery school as well as fishing , brewery , dairy and bakery .

With the introduction of the Reformation in 1547, the town of Egeln became Protestant, the provosts and some of the nuns tended towards Lutheranism , but the monastery clung to the old faith. In the years 1577 to 1730 the monastery church was shared by the Protestant Altemarkt community.

Anna Margareta von Haugwitz lived here from 1630 to 1633 as a pupil of the convent , who had become an orphan at the age of eight after a massacre by the imperial troops in Calbe (Saale) . When the Swedish general Johann Banér resided in the Renaissance Egeln Castle for some time from 1632 , a lady from his entourage, the widowed Countess Elisabeth Juliane von Löwenstein-Scharfeneck , née Countess von Erbach (Erpach), found out about the fate and took the girl out of the monastery and as her own foster daughter. At the age of 18, Anna Margareta married a Unterführer Banérs, the 27-year-old Swedish general , later Reichsmarschall and Count von Salmis , Karl Gustav Wrangel .

Under the abbess Maria Zeiseler and the provost Christoph Jordan, the entire monastery complex, including farm buildings and monastery wall, was rebuilt between 1696 and 1719. In 1730, under Abbess Katharina Musäus, a new church was built for the Protestant community of Altemarkt (now Katharinenkapelle at the cemetery), and then the construction of the monastery church began. For this purpose, the old Gothic monastery church was torn down to the foundation walls and rebuilt, enlarged by a third, so that it protruded to the east from the cloister square . The construction began in 1732 under Abbess Katharina Musäus and was completed in 1734 under Abbess Anna Margaretha Müller. Until 1738, the artists had to complete the unique baroque interior that is still preserved today. On the nun gallery there is a Gothic statue of the Virgin Mary (around 1450), which is important for pilgrims as the Madonna of Mercy and pilgrimage . In the lower church there is a Gothic altar cross (around 1330), a late Romanesque sandstone Madonna (around 1260), a Pietà (around 1450) and a Renaissance baptismal font (1605). The furnishings include chalices , monstrances (including 1728) and vestments from the 18th – 20th centuries. Century.

In 1769, the monastery received for its willingness to build 30 houses for Huguenots expelled from France , from King Friedrich II. Final permission for the free election of provosts and Catholic pastoral activities for the city of Egeln and the surrounding area.

By decree of the King of Westphalia , Jérôme Bonaparte , of May 13, 1809, the dissolution of the following monasteries was ordered: Marienstuhl Monastery in front of Egeln, Wöltingerode Monastery near Vienenburg , St. Burchardi in Halberstadt , Adersleben near Wegeleben , Teistungenburg in Eichsfeld and Hadmersleben and for filling sold to his war chest and at the same time stipulated that the conventuals and lay sisters should be transferred to the other, still existing nunneries.

present

The monastery church was retained by the Catholic community and was extensively restored between 1961–1989 and 2002 and is a magnet for worshipers and art connoisseurs. Since July 2005, the monastery church has been the station church of the St. Jakobus pilgrimage route through Saxony-Anhalt. The old organ was partly renewed by the organ builder Ernst Röver in 1892 and has 28 sounding registers with 1783 pipes and is one of the oldest organs in the diocese of Magdeburg .

After an inventory exchange between the Lower Saxony State Archives Wolfenbüttel and the State Main Archives Saxony-Anhalt in 2004, the extensive monastery archive is located in the Magdeburg department of the latter, the monastery library is stored on the Huysburg near Halberstadt (some nuns went there after the dissolution of the monastery).

The monastery grounds with the provost's office, cloister building, stables and open spaces (a total of 40,000 m²) are privately owned.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 750-year-old Egeln Marienstuhl Monastery is for sale
  2. ↑ a b History of the monastery of the Marienstuhl Egeln holds treasures . In: Volksstimme . November 25, 2016 (url = https://www.volksstimme.de/lokal/schoenebeck/klostergeschichte-marienstuhl-egeln-birgt-schaetze [accessed on January 17, 2020]).
  3. ↑ Stations 14 EGELN Church Marienstuhl , on jakobusweg-sachsen-anhalt.de, accessed on January 17, 2020
  4. ↑ A 4m Kloster Marienstuhl vor Egeln, 1532-1838 (inventory) (place of use: Magdeburg) , on recherche.landesarchiv.sachsen-anhalt.de, accessed on January 17, 202

Coordinates: 51 ° 56 ′ 27.2 "  N , 11 ° 25 ′ 40.7"  E