Monastery Spieskappel

In 1143, Premonstratensians founded the collegiate church of Kappel, which possessed extensive rights including customs exemption, coinage rights, and its own ecclesiastical court. The canons produced the pigment “Kasselerbraun” in one of the monastery mills, using ochre extracted from the Marie mine in Ringsberg. The monastic complex suffered fire damage in 1301 and was plundered during the Sterner War in 1372. As a result of the Reformation, the collegiate church was dissolved in 1527. The Romanesque basilica, constructed between approximately 1145 and 1255, featured a flat roof. The nave and the left aisle have been preserved, while the right aisle and the east side were demolished around 1500. The monastic buildings themselves were removed in the 17th century, with only minor remnants surviving. A notable event was Martin Luther's overnight stay in the monastery buildings from September 28 to 29, 1529, on his journey to the Marburg Colloquy. Of the Premonstratensian nunnery, also founded around 1145, virtually no architectural evidence remains today.

The former Premonstratensian Abbey of Spieskappel is situated in the Spieskappel district of the municipality of Frielendorf in the Schwalm-Eder district of Hesse, Germany.

The former abbey church of St. John is now used as an Evangelical parish church. Its late Staufer period construction phases show stylistic similarities to the builders of Fritzlar Cathedral. The Romanesque west tower of the basilica was replaced between 1500 and 1504 by a late Gothic, square tower, whose tower hall features a star vault from 1505. Inside the tower is a vestibule with a richly articulated stepped portal, whose tympanum depicts busts of Mary, John, and Jesus Christ. Inside, the arcades leading to the northern aisle are designed with alternating supports, and the column capitals are adorned with human figures between leaf tendrils or heads with intertwined hair. The church is flat-closed to the east and pierced by late Gothic windows. A Rococo organ by Johannes Schlottmann, built between 1769 and 1771, enriches the interior. From the organ loft, the Romanesque St. Michael's Chapel above the tower hall is accessible. A late Romanesque altar with a baldachin and two side altar niches stands in the center of the former Romanesque west gable wall. In the rectory garden, a late Gothic fountain basin dated 1509 features a shallow relief with the initials of Abbot Johannes Zuddel, who served from 1487 to 1518. A chemical plant is now located on the grounds of the former collegiate church in Unterkappel.

• Hofgut von Baumbach (manor house and estate, approx. 3768 m away)
• Schloss Dillich (castle, approx. 4364 m away)
• Burgruine Ropperhausen (castle ruin, approx. 4670 m away)
• Schloss Großropperhausen (castle, approx. 5177 m away)