Monastery Marienthal ( German: Kloster St. Marienthal , Czech. Klášter Marienthal ) is an active monastery located near the small town of Ostrits on the River Neisse in Saxony . Founded in 1234 by the wife of Bohemian King Wenceslas I, Kunigunda of Swabia , it is the oldest continuously functioning Cistercian convent in Germany .
Since 1955, in the care of the monastery, a house for the disabled. In 1992, on the basis of the monastery, an international information center was organized with two hotels, which accommodate visitors to events and seminars, also held by the monastery educational center. Currently, the monastery has the status of a cultural and historical complex, which includes: abbey , probation , monastery church , chapel ; as well as outbuildings - a bakery, brewery, sawmill, mill (currently inactive). In 2006, 14 sisters were members of the monastery community.
Monastery History
The date of foundation of the monastery is considered to be October 14, 1233, when the Bohemian Queen Kunigunda granted land for the monastery on the banks of the Luzhitsa Nisa . In 1234, the monastery entered the Order of the Cistercians ( Latin Ordo Cisterciensis ). In 1427, he was attacked by the Hussites and was destroyed. The nuns managed to escape, they took refuge in Görlitz . During the XVI-XVII centuries, the monastery experienced several fires that caused considerable damage, but the biggest was the fire in 1683, when the monastery burned down completely. By 1744, it was completely restored already in a new baroque form. During the Northern War , with the Swedish occupation of Saxony , which now belonged to the monastery, the nuns again had to leave Mariental for some time in 1707 and take refuge in Bohemia in the town of Zakupy ( Czech Zákupy , German Reichstadt ).
Literature
- Dannenberg, Lars-Arne: Das Kloster St. Marienthal und die Burggrafen von Dohna . Neues Lausitzisches Magazin 11 (2008), S. 89-104 (German)
- Schönfelder, JB: Urkundliche Geschichte des Königlichen Jungfrauenstifts und Klosters St. Marienthal in der Königlich-Sächsischen Oberlausitz . Zittau 1834. (German)
- Zdichynec, Jan: Klášter Marienthal mezi králi, městy a šlechtou (1234-1547) . In: Bobková, Lenka (Hrsg.): Korunní země v dějinách českého státu, Bd. 1: Integrační a partikulární rysy českého státu v pozdním středověku . Praha 2003.S 166-218. (Czech)