Michaelskloster Paderborn

The community's origins date back to 1597, when Alix Le Clerc and four other women in Lorraine founded a religious association to provide free education for girls and young women. The Order of Augustinian Canonesses CBMV was confirmed by the Pope in 1628. During the Thirty Years' War, some sisters found refuge in Münster. In March 1658, a new foundation was initiated in Paderborn and a school was opened. In 1669, the sisters moved into a house gifted by Prince-Bishop Ferdinand von Fürstenberg on the Pader, which they established as St. Joseph's Monastery. The new construction of the monastery and church took place in 1698, with Prince-Bishop Hermann Werner von Wolff Metternich dedicating it to the Archangel Michael. As the only monastery in Westphalia, St. Michael's Abbey escaped secularization in 1802 due to its dedication to public education. However, during the Kulturkampf in 1878, the monastery was dissolved by the Prussian government and the sisters expelled, before being re-established in Hagen in 1925. The school was closed by the National Socialists in 1939, and the buildings were destroyed in a bombing raid in 1945. Reconstruction and reopening of the schools took place by 1946.

The Augustinian Canonesses' Abbey of St. Michael is located in the city of Paderborn in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

The abbey church is a protected monument, distinguished by its Flemish Baroque facade designed by Ambrosius von Oelde. The interior of the simple church hall is plastered and features a cross-ribbed vault. The eastern choir gable facade, made of brick with stone decorations and pilasters, is particularly noteworthy. The Alexius Chapel, built between 1670 and 1673 and originally part of Abdinghof Abbey, is now used for concerts and devotions.

• Kaiserpfalz Ruin (ruin, approx. 166 m away)
• Fürstenhof Castle (castle, approx. 206 m away)
• Paderborn Cathedral (sacred building, approx. 227 m away)
• Archiepiscopal Palace (residence, approx. 488 m away)