Gandersheim Abbey Church

Description

Gandersheim Abbey (Stift Gandersheim) was a secular canonesses’ foundation in Bad Gandersheim, Lower Saxony, founded in 852 by Count Liudolf of Saxony and his wife Oda, ancestors of the Ottonian dynasty. Endowed with wealth and Imperial protection, it became one of the most important Ottonian family institutions and burial places.

The canonesses, drawn from noble families, lived religious but non-monastic lives and educated young noblewomen. The abbey gained prominence under writers like Roswitha of Gandersheim, the first female poet in Germany. In 1206 it was freed from claims by the Bishop of Hildesheim, and its abbesses were recognized as Imperial princesses.

From the late Middle Ages, the abbey came under the influence of the Welf dukes. The Reformation reached Gandersheim in 1568, making it Lutheran. A Baroque revival followed in the 17th–18th centuries under abbesses who promoted arts and sciences.

In 1810, during the Napoleonic occupation, the abbey was dissolved. Today the church serves the local Evangelical-Lutheran parish. The present church building, which has been subject to restoration in the 19th and 20th centuries, was begun in about 1100 and dedicated in 1168.