Mariental Abbey

The foundation of Mariental Monastery took place in 1138 by Count Palatine Friedrich II of Sommerschenburg as a Cistercian monastery. It was a filiation of Altenberg Abbey. Initially, it was settled by Abbot Bodo and twelve monks from Amelungsborn Abbey. After the Sommerschenburg lineage died out in 1179, the monastic possessions largely fell to Henry the Lion. The monastery's lands extended as far as Magdeburg, Jüterbog, and Braunschweig. A decline began at the end of the 14th century. The Cistercian era ended in 1569. After the Reformation, from 1542 to 1745, the monastery served as a Protestant monastic school and a teacher training college, which was relocated to Helmstedt in 1773.