Abbeyhof Manor (Köln)

The Klosterhof estate and the adjacent Basilica of St. Nicholas were originally built in 1117 by Benedictine or Augustinian canons and operated from 1143 by Premonstratensian canonesses from Steinfeld Abbey. The basilica has been dedicated to Saint Nicholas in addition to Mary since 1229.

After numerous warlike conflicts in the area reduced the number of nuns to three by 1643, it was converted into a monastery for men. Canons from Steinfeld managed the monastery until its dissolution by Napoleon in 1803. Since then, the church has been a parish church.

The three building complexes – church, residential building, and farmyard – although originating from different centuries, surrounded by a medieval wall, still make the historical form of the monastery complex easily experienceable today. In contrast to the more common four-sided courtyards, it is a very individual, open, and partly widely scattered grouping of buildings, which was probably determined by the location of the predecessor buildings. All buildings are indispensable components of a functionally coherent ensemble of farm and church, as it has only been preserved here and in Widdersdorf in Cologne.