Wechselburg Priory

The monastery was founded around 1160 by Dedo von Rochlitz-Groitzsch as a proprietary monastery. A partial consecration of the late Romanesque basilica took place around 1168 by Gerung. Monastic life according to the Rule of Saint Augustine began shortly after 1174 with monks from the Augustinian Canons Regular Monastery of Petersberg near Halle. The construction of the three-aisled pillar basilica was completed around 1200, with the convent buildings following later. In 1278, Margrave Heinrich the Illustrious handed over the monastery to the Teutonic Order. In 1543, Duke Moritz of Saxony secularized the monastery and all its possessions, exchanging it with the Lords of Schönburg for other properties, which led to the name Wechselburg. The Teutonic Order unsuccessfully attempted to reclaim the monastery through legal means until 1570. From 1843, Carl Heinrich Alban Count von Schönburg-Forderglauchau permitted private Catholic devotions in the basilica. Following the conversion of his son Carl Heinrich Wolf Wilhelm Franz Count von Schönburg-Forderglauchau and his wife in 1869, a conflict arose with the Protestant regional church, known as the “Wechselburg Kulturkampf,” concerning the use of the church and public Corpus Christi processions. Only after World War II did the basilica officially become a Roman Catholic parish and pilgrimage church. After severe war damage to the roof by ammunition explosions in the final days of the war, which caused secondary damage to the 19th-century frescoes, extensive restoration work was carried out from 1953 to 1965. Benedictine monks from Ettal Abbey re-established Wechselburg Monastery on August 28, 1993. They are involved in pilgrimage and parish pastoral care and run a youth and family center. The monastery has been expanded since 2010. In the context of the cases of sexual abuse in Catholic institutions in Germany that became public in 2010, which also affected the mother monastery Ettal, three monks of the Wechselburg convent were suspended from duty, including Father Georg Roß, who admitted abuse in 2015 and was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2016. On September 14, 2012, the monastery was elevated to a dependent priory by Bishop Joachim Reinelt.

The former monastery is situated in the Central Saxony region of the federal state of Saxony, Germany, at an elevation of approximately 186 meters above sea level.

Today, the basilica serves as a Roman Catholic parish and pilgrimage church and is one of two pilgrimage churches in the Diocese of Dresden-Meißen. The monastery houses Benedictine monks who operate a youth and family center and are engaged in pastoral care.

• Rochlitz Castle (castle, approx. 4672 m away)
• Rochsburg Castle (castle, approx. 6787 m away)
• Ossa Manor (manor house, approx. 7851 m away)
• Old Penig Castle (castle, approx. 8970 m away)