Malchow Abbey

Malchow, Germany

Malchow Abbey is a former Cistercian nunnery founded in 1298, when the nuns from Röbel settled in Alt-Malchow and took over the premises of the former Magdalene community here. Nicholas II, Prince of Werle, gave the new nunnery the patronage of the churches at Alt-Malchow, Neu-Malchow and Lexow. After the Reformation the abbey was a collegiate foundation for noblewomen from 1572 to 1923.

The former abbey building complex is now dominated by the church, which was built between 1844 and 1849 to plans by Friedrich Wilhelm Buttel. These included a 52-metre high brick tower, after the addition of which it was thought necessary to refurbish the nave for aesthetic reasons. Before 1844 the church was a simple stone building.

After a fire in 1888 the church was rebuilt in a Gothic Revival between 1888 and 1890 according to plans by Georg Daniel.

Of the old abbey buildings there still exist the cloister, as well as some ancillary buildings now used for residential purposes.

In the abbey church and the nearby organ courtyard is a permanent exhibition relating to the history of organ-building in Mecklenburg. The Mecklenburg Organ Museum is the first of its sort in the new Bundesländer. In the abbey church itself there is an organ by Friedrich Friese III.

The abbey complex also includes the Engelsche Garten, laid out by, and named after, Johann Jacob Christian Engel (1762–1840), master of the abbey kitchen from 1786 to 1818. It was not completed until 1855/56.

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Address

Kloster 31, Malchow, Germany
See all sites in Malchow

Details

Founded: 1298
Category: Religious sites in Germany
Historical period: Habsburg Dynasty (Germany)

More Information

en.wikipedia.org

Rating

4.4/5 (based on Google user reviews)

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User Reviews

Udo W (4 months ago)
Ein schöner Ort zum verweilen. Das Kloster ist sehenswert.
Maik Zilz Photography (5 months ago)
Eine schöne historische Anlage mit imposanter Kirche, in welcher ich eine tolle Trauung fotografisch begleiten durfte.
Matthias Weigel (5 months ago)
Ein historischer Ort zum verweilen.
Dave Pearson (8 months ago)
From outside magnificent...from the inside unfortunately not, the roof is leaking, the walls are wet from moisture and the walls are supported with steel braces, it is such a pity that like a majority of churches in this part of the world it has not been looked after in the past years and now you pay an entrance fee of € 4,50 including photography per person. The money goes to a save our church fund...I just hope it's not too late!
Breker Bug (11 months ago)
Anlässlich einer Trauung von Freunden waren wir hier im Kloster zu Besuch. Das Wetter spielte an diesem Tag hervorragend mit und so war es uns eine große Freude hier zu Gast zu sein. Direkt am See gelegen, ist das Kloster eine echte Augenweide und lädt geradezu zum Verweilen ein.
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Moszna Castle

The Moszna Castle is one of the best known monuments in the western part of Upper Silesia. The history of this building begins in the 17th century, although much older cellars were found in the gardens during excavations carried out at the beginning of the 20th century. Some of the investigators, including H. Barthel, claimed that those cellars could have been remnants of a presumed Templar castle, but their theory has never been proved. After World War II, further excavations discovered a medieval palisade.

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After World War II the castle did not have a permanent owner and was the home of various institutions until 1972 when it became a convalescent home. Later it became a Public Health Care Centre for Therapies of Neuroses. Nowadays it can be visited by tourists since the health institution has moved to another building in the neighbourhood. The castle also has a chapel which is used as a concert hall. Since 1998 the castle housed a gallery in which works of various artists are presented at regular exhibitions.

Apart from the castle itself, the entire complex includes a park which has no precise boundaries and includes nearby fields, meadows and a forest. Only the main axis of the park can be characterised as geometrical. Starting from the gate, it leads along the oak and then horse-chestnut avenues, towards the castle. Further on, the park passes into an avenue of lime trees with symmetrical canals running along both sides of the path, lined with a few varieties of rhododendrons. The axis of the park terminates at the base of a former monument of Hubert von Tiele-Winckler. On the eastern side of the avenue there is a pond with an islet referred to by the owners as Easter Island. The islet is planted with needle-leaved shrubs and can be reached by a Chinese-styled bridge. The garden, as part of the whole park complex was restored slightly earlier than the castle itself. Preserved documents of 1868 state that the improvement in the garden's aesthetic quality was undertaken by Hubert von Tiele-Winckler.

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