Börstel convent

The origins of the monastery date back to the 13th century. Around 1244, it is believed to have been founded by Counts Otto I and Johann I of Oldenburg as the Cistercian convent “Rosental” in Menslage, utilizing their manor farm there. It was first mentioned in a document in 1246. By approximately 1251, the convent was relocated to the Börstel Forest, where the monastic facilities and the St. Marien Abbey Church were constructed in the Brick Gothic style. In its initial decades, the monastery received numerous papal protections, securing its legal status. Through donations and its own acquisitions, the convent developed extensive land holdings. During the transition from the 15th to the 16th century, a gradual shift from Catholic to Lutheran forms of worship took place.

The former monastery is situated in the Börstel Forest, a district of the municipality of Berge within the collective municipality of Fürstenau, on the northern edge of the Osnabrück district. Its location on the northern foothills of the Ankumer Höhe is characteristic of the Cistercian tradition of seclusion. Today, the convent is nestled within the “Börsteler Wald und Teichhausen” landscape protection area and is part of the TERRA.vita Nature and Geopark.

Today, the complex functions as a secular convent for noblewomen. The abbey church, with its distinctive, approximately 400-year-old lime trees on its south side, is a natural monument and a testament to historical architecture.

• Rittergut Lonne (manor house, approx. 11231 m away)
• Schloss Eggermühlen (castle, approx. 12530 m away)
• Rittergut Loxten (manor house, approx. 13495 m away)
• Burgmannshof von Dwingelo (residence, approx. 14257 m away)