Neuburg Abbey

Around 1130, Neuburg Abbey was founded as a filial establishment of Lorsch Monastery, initially serving as a Benedictine monastery for men. In 1195, at the initiative of Konrad von Staufen, the first Count Palatine of the Rhine, it was converted into a Benedictine nunnery. Following the dissolution of the mother monastery of Lorsch in 1232, its rights transferred to the dioceses of Mainz and later Worms. Influenced by reform efforts from Cîteaux, the monastery was transformed into a Cistercian abbey around 1303. In the mid-15th century, under Elector Frederick I, it returned to Benedictine observance. In the 16th century, the nuns joined the Reformation, and after the death of Abbess Brigitta von Pfalz-Simmern in 1562, the monastery was dissolved and converted into a noble ladies' foundation. In 1706, Elector Johann Wilhelm transferred the monastery to the Jesuits, who managed it until their order was banned by the Pope in 1773. It was then secularized again and passed into private ownership in 1804.