Kloster Marienthal

The origins of Marienthal Monastery date back to the early 12th century, when the Counts of Schwalenberg, likely Widekind I, built a three-aisled Romanesque church in the 'Valley of the Holy Mary'. In 1228, Widekind's sons, Volkwin and Adolf of Schwalenberg and Waldeck, founded the monastery at this location. They transferred the church and the associated estate to the new community, which was initially known as 'In the Valley of the Holy Mary' and later as 'Marienthal'. Nuns from the Cistercian monastery of Kamp on the Lower Rhine were called to populate it. The original church proved too small for monastic operations and was partially demolished after 1228, though the impressive tower remained. In its place, a two-aisled, chancel-less hall church was built, consecrated to the Mother of God around 1280. Around 1330, two more bays were added to the east. After a fire in 1419 destroyed the wooden cloister, a stone cloister, no longer extant today, was built on the north side of the church in 1429.

The former Marienthal Monastery is located in Netze, a district of the town of Waldeck in Hesse, Germany. The complex lies in the historical border region between the Franconian and Saxon Hessengau.

Today, mainly the remarkable monastery church is preserved. It houses a Gothic winged altarpiece from around 1370, depicting the life of Christ in 13 panels. One of the three bronze bells in the Romanesque west tower is among the oldest in Germany and is still regularly rung. The St. Nicholas Chapel, which was added to the monastery church, served as the burial place for the Counts of Waldeck. Numerous family members are interred here, including Count Heinrich II and presumably also the monastery founder Adolf I. The chapel is adorned with funerary monuments and sarcophagi, beneath which lies a crypt vault containing further burials.

• Selbach Castle (Castle, approx. 3112 m away)
• Waldeck Castle (Castle, approx. 3535 m away)
• Naumburg Castle Ruins (Castle, approx. 5365 m away)
• Höhnscheid Castle (Castle, approx. 6371 m away)