Franziskanerkloster Saalfeld

The convent was founded by brothers of the Franciscan Order around 1250, with the support of the Counts of Orlamünde and Schwarzburg. The monastery, which belonged to the Saxon Franciscan Province, was first documented on June 16, 1265. In 1293, a church in the style of a mendicant order church, dedicated to the Apostle Andrew, was completed. After being destroyed by fire in 1432, the complex was immediately rebuilt. Attempts in 1460 by Landgrave Wilhelm III to introduce stricter observance of the order's rules were not permanently successful in Saalfeld. As a result of the Reformation, the Franciscans had to leave the monastery and the city in 1534. Five brothers were allowed to remain in Saalfeld and received lifelong financial support. The church building was initially used as a Lutheran place of worship and received a Baroque ceiling design in 1724. Later, the structure was used for secular purposes. A Latin school was established in the monastery buildings, which existed until 1914.

The Franciscan Monastery is located in Saalfeld/Saale, a town in the district of Saalfeld-Rudolstadt in the federal state of Thuringia, Germany.

Since 1999, the former monastery buildings have housed the Saalfeld City Museum in the Franciscan Monastery. The museum was originally founded in 1904 in a smaller part of the cloister.

• Hoher Schwarm Castle Ruin (Castle, approx. 623 m away)
• Kitzerstein Castle (Castle, approx. 673 m away)
• Saalfeld Castle (Castle, approx. 822 m away)
• Wetzelstein Castle (Castle, approx. 2342 m away)