image author: Zdzisalawa Ulenberg

From the beginnings in the Romanesque period to the present usage

In the year 1176, the monastery Marienberg was founded for the Augustininian Canons and in honour of Maria named after her. While the town of Helmstedt was destroyed during the war in 1199, the monastery stayed intact. The patron saint protected her monastery even during a siege in 1279. In the course of the reformation, the facility was dissolved in 1569 aufgelöst and rebuilt from the ruins in the 19th-century. The Nazis forbid the private school for girls in 1940. Today, the tradition is being successfully continued in a paraments workshop.

The parish church
Of the Romanesque interior of the collegiate church, some fragments of the glass painting from the year 1200, have been preserved. Today, they decorate a window in the north transept. Below the main cornice, an arched frieze runs more or less around the building. In 1860, a late-Romanesque arched portal in the west wing was renewed with rich ornaments.

The Paraments workshop
Thanks to the efforts of Charlotte von Ventheim and Countess Anne von der Schulenburg, the parament workshop was revived in the 19th-century. By now, the facility is a recognised training centre for textile design with 150 years of experience. Apart from producing and restoring liturgical garments, modern knits and weaving work are being produced. Visitors can partake in lectures and guided tours into the treasury for medieval textiles.