Wallenstein Abbey
The Wallenstein Abbey was a Protestant women's monastery first in Homberg (Efze) , then from 1830 in Fulda .
Countess Maria Amalia von Schlitz called von Görtz , born von Wallenstein (born August 3, 1691 in Homberg (Efze) , † December 31, 1762 in Frankfurt am Main ) was the last of the Hessian Wallensteins , who originally lived at Wallenstein Castle in Knüll . In her will in 1759 she founded the Wallenstein Abbey in Homberg ( 51 ° 2 ′ N , 9 ° 24 ′ E ) as a supply facility for both countess and noble women Confessions "(Lutheran and Reformed), and Emperor Franz I confirmed this foundation in 1783. The monastery was closed as a result of the so-called Dörnberg uprising of 1809 against Napoleonic rule, in which the abbess Marianne Freiin vom und zum Stein , a sister of the Prussian reformer Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum Stein , supported the rebels, and after the restitution of the Electorate of Hesse relocated to Fulda in 1830 because the building available in Homberg had become too small.
In 1832 the monastery in Fulda acquired the Palais Buseck, built in 1732 by master builder Andrea Gallasini in the baroque quarter between the cathedral and the palace . The last prince abbot of Fulda, Adalbert von Harstall, who was ousted by the secularization, lived in this palace from 1803 until his death in 1814.
In the 19th century, the monastery was the center of the Protestant parish founded in 1803 by the brief sovereign Wilhelm Friedrich von Orange in 1803. Since the congregation did not have its own rooms until the Christ Church was built (1896), the canons made them available. In 1887, on the initiative of the canons, a "toddler care facility" was created on their premises, the forerunner of today's Evangelical Kindergarten of the Christ Church. A deaconess station was also built on their premises in 1897. Until the Protestant parish had its own parish hall in 1910 (today the Evangelical Center "Haus Oranien"), the church choir was also able to practice in the monastery rooms. For decades, Protestant women met there with Abbess Thekla von Holleben (born June 22, 1876 in Königsee / Thuringia, † February 4, 1959 in Fulda) as part of the German Women's Mission Prayer Association ( DFMGB ).
In 1992 the formerly independent Wallenstein Abbey was merged with the Knighthood of Althessia . The last canoness left the baroque building on Fuldaer Bonifatiusplatz in 2006, which is now used for other purposes. The last abbess, Wilhelmine von Sandersleben , who had lived in Fulda in the evangelical retirement and nursing home in Emmaus, died there on April 15, 2010 at the age of 90 and was buried on April 23, 2010 in the Stiftsfriedhof am Frauenberg.
Exhibition 2010
From February 11 to April 11, 2010, the Vonderau Museum in Fulda showed the special exhibition: "Freedom [t] räume - The Freiadelige Stift Wallenstein from 1759 to 1992." An accompanying volume was published for the exhibition (Vonderau Museum - Catalogs, Vol. 22).
literature
- Hartmann, Anton: Contemporary History of Fulda , Fulda 1895
- Hattendorff, Johannes: Festschrift to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Protestant community in Fulda , (p. 42 and 58), Fulda 1903
- Hattendorff, Johannes: History of the free aristocratic women's monastery Wallenstein, commemorative publication to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the foundation on August 16, 1909 , Fulda 1909
- Festschrift 100 years of Evangelical Kindergarten Fulda, Fulda 1987
- Festschrift 200 years of the evangelical community in Fulda, p. 46/47, Fulda 2003
- Lemberg, Margret: Marianne vom Stein and the Wallenstein Monastery in Homberg / Efze and Fulda (publications of the Historical Commission for Hesse, 66), Marburg: NG Elwert Verlag 2007, 377 p., 1 color ill., 59 b / w ill ., ISBN 978-3-7708-1302-5
- Römmelt, Stefan W. (arrangement) / Gregor K. Stasch (ed.): Freiheits (t) räume. The Freiadlige Stift Wallenstein from 1759 to 1992 (Vonderau Museum - Catalogs Vol. 22), Petersberg: Michael Imhof Verlag 2010, 79 pages.