Hamborn Abbey

The origins of Hamborn Abbey trace back to a small parish church built in the 9th century on an estate called Havenburn. In 1136, Gerhard von Hochstaden gifted his Hamborn properties to the Archbishop of Cologne, stipulating that a monastery of the Premonstratensian Order be established there. The monastic complex, dedicated to Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, was elevated to an abbey in 1170. Following the occupation of the Rhineland by Napoleonic forces, the monastery was dissolved in 1806 as part of the secularization process. While the monastic estates became state property, the church remained in use as a parish church. During World War II, the abbey and its church suffered significant destruction. The abbey was refounded in 1959 by Premonstratensians from Rot an der Rot Abbey, and in 1994, it was once again elevated to an abbey.