Augustinereremitenkloster Herford

The exact founding date of the monastery before 1288 is not extensively documented. Between 1280 and 1300, the three-bay hall church of the convent was built. In 1316, the district boundaries for collecting alms were established with the Einbeck monastery, and in the first half of the 14th century, twelve more such districts and hospices followed. Emperor Charles IV stayed overnight at the monastery in 1377 during a visit to Herford, and two years later, in 1379, the monastery hosted the chapter of the Thuringian-Saxon province of the Augustinian Hermits. Johannes Klenkok is said to have joined the order in the 1340s. In the 15th century, there were reform efforts and conflicts with the city, which in 1478 restricted the rights of the convent, forbade preaching and begging in public places, reading masses in city churches, and using city mills. Early in the 16th century, reformist ideas found their way into the convent, which introduced the Reformation in the 1520s. Johann Dreier, an Augustinian Hermit, is considered the Reformer of Herford. He left the monastery in 1530, became the first Lutheran preacher at Herford Minster, and there in 1532 read the new Herford Church Order. The dissolution of the monastery occurred in 1540. Its possessions were subsequently transferred to the city and the Imperial Abbey of Herford. The monastery church, likely dedicated to Saint Mary, was divided: the eastern part served as a school church, the western as a granary. From 1692, the western part became an Evangelical Reformed parish church before being demolished in 1772. The school church followed in 1806. The last structural elements of the monastery were demolished in 1886, with some stones repurposed for the construction of the Steintorbrücke. In 2017, during construction work, remnants of the northern wall of the former monastery church were discovered, and the square within the new Altstadt-Center was named Augustinerplatz.

The former monastery was located in the old town of Herford in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the area between today's Brüderstraße, Klosterstraße, Gehrenberg, and the former Bowerre.

Today, Augustinerplatz, along with Brüderstraße and Klosterstraße, commemorates the former location of the monastery. During construction work in 2017, archaeological remains of the northern wall of the monastery church were uncovered, which are now situated within the Altstadt-Center.

• Steinbeck Castle (Castle, approx. 6241 m away)
• Oberbehme Castle (Kirchlengern) (Castle, approx. 7115 m away)
• Consbruch Manor (Hiddenhausen) (Manor and Estate House, approx. 7135 m away)
• Milse Castle (Castle, approx. 7519 m away)