Wöltingerode Abbey

The abbey was founded in 1174 by the Counts Ludolf II, Hogerus, and Borchardus of Wohldenberg as a Benedictine monastery. They endowed it with lands and rights. By 1188, it was converted into a Cistercian nunnery, whose nuns laid the foundation for the dimensions still visible today. In the 13th century, Wöltingerode experienced a period of prosperity, becoming a mother abbey for other monasteries and a center for book illumination. After a phase of impoverishment in the late 13th and 14th centuries, the abbey recovered in the 15th century. The Reformation led to changing denominations until it was reoccupied by Cistercian nuns in the 17th century after the Edict of Restitution. Following a fire in 1676, reconstruction took place, with inscriptions still visible today.