Möllenbeck Abbey

Möllenbeck Monastery was founded as a collegiate church for canonesses as early as 896 by the noblewoman Hildburg, a fact confirmed by an imperial charter from Arnulf of Carinthia – the oldest document from the Schaumburg region. After a period of prosperity in the High Middle Ages, the collegiate church experienced a decline in the 15th century, leading to its dissolution in 1441 and transfer to the Augustinian Canons. A catastrophe occurred in 1474 when a major fire destroyed the entire complex; only the crypt and the Ottonian round towers remained. Between 1478 and 1505, the church, cloister, and convent buildings were rebuilt.