Gronau Abbey (Heidenrod)

Gronau Monastery, located in today's greater municipality of Heidenrod in Hesse, was probably founded around 1130 by Benedictine monks from Michaelsberg Abbey in Siegburg as a proprietary monastery of the Counts of Katzenelnbogen. It was first mentioned in a document in 1252 as "Grunowe" (green meadow) and was, after the collegiate church of Sankt Goar, the oldest monastery in the Lower County of Katzenelnbogen.

After the extinction of the Katzenelnbogen counts, their possessions fell to the Landgraviate of Hesse. On December 19, 1527, Landgrave Philipp I of Hesse convened a synod for the Vierherrische Land in Gronau to have the Reformation introduced in the Vierherrische by his court preacher and visitor Adam Krafft.

In 1537, Philipp dissolved the monastery. In 1542, he had it converted into a "High Hospital" for men. At that time, Gronau owned, among other things, 391 acres of arable land, gardens and meadows, vineyards on the Rhine, 60 forest plots, an external monastery farm, 4 mills, and farm and feudal estates in 42 localities. Within the enclosing wall, there are said to have been 19 buildings. In 1549, a tithe barn was erected.

During the Thirty Years' War, the hospital was so severely damaged that it could no longer be used as such. The remains of the destroyed buildings were dismantled and reused as building material; only a few foundation walls remained. The income previously due to Gronau Hospital was now transferred to the High Hospital in Haina.

The former monastery was converted into a manor farm and leased, later sold. The church continued to serve for worship until 1813. Even after the former Lower County of Katzenelnbogen fell to the Duchy of Nassau in 1816, Gronau remained part of Electoral Hesse. Agriculture was practiced at Klostergut Gronau until 1984.

Since 2001, a gastronomic establishment with accommodation ("Freizeithaus Klostergut Gronau"), a small museum, and a beer garden can be found at the monastery estate. Occasionally, cultural and entertainment events are held, organized by an association ("Kultur im Kloster e.V. i.G.").