Medingen Abbey

The convent of Medingen Monastery was founded in 1228 as a branch of the Cistercian monastery of Wolmirstedt (north of Magdeburg). In 1336, it permanently settled in Medingen. The monastery was originally built in the Brick Gothic style.

Most of the nuns were daughters of Lüneburg patrician families who entered the convent with rich households, thus increasing the monastery's possessions. Over time, the monastery acquired rights to the Lüneburg saltworks, customs, mills, and shipping on the Ilmenau.

At its peak at the beginning of the 16th century, the monastery housed over 100 nuns.

In 1524, in the course of the Reformation, the sovereign Duke Ernst the Confessor, of Brunswick-Lüneburg, ordered the conversion to the Lutheran faith. The convent resisted this order for more than 30 years in the "Nuns' War"; the abbess publicly burned Luther's Bible. In 1539, Duke Ernst confiscated the monastery's property and had part of the monastery demolished. In 1555, after accepting the Lutheran confession, the monastery received back part of its estates. In 1559, it was converted into a women's convent.

In 1781, the buildings of the old monastery burned down, except for the brewery. By 1787, it was rebuilt in the late Baroque, partly also early Neoclassical style. The monastery consists of two elongated convent buildings, with the church in the middle.

The architect of the new building was the court master builder Christian Ludwig Ziegler.

To this day, an abbess presides over the convent. Medingen Monastery is one of the Heath Monasteries, which are administered by the Klosterkammer Hannover and are under its legal supervision.