Rode monastery

Around 1147, Kloster Rode was founded as a daughter monastery of the Liebfrauenstift in Magdeburg. The burgraves of Magdeburg established it on the southern edge of the Harz mountains and staffed it with Premonstratensians. In 1181, the nobles of Querfurt assumed secular patronage over the monastery. By the 13th century, the Roda foundation had grown considerably, possessing significant land in the surrounding area and an estimated 100 canons. In 1432, the neighboring Counts of Mansfeld took over the patronage. A lightning strike around 1470 caused the abbey church to burn down, after which it was rebuilt. During the Peasants' War in April and May 1525, there were attacks on Kloster Roda, prompting the Premonstratensians to flee. The monastery buildings were plundered but not destroyed, allowing eight canons to return. With the introduction of the Reformation in the Duchy of Saxony after the death of George the Bearded, the Premonstratensian foundation of Rode was dissolved from 1540 by the ducal office of Sangerhausen. In 1543, the Counts of Mansfeld purchased the secularized monastery buildings from Duke Moritz of Saxony for 14,000 Meissen gulden. The last provost, Petrus Meise, elected in 1537, was appointed as the Mansfeld-controlled administrator of the monastery, which had been converted into a manor, and served in this capacity until his death in 1558. In 1567, the Counts of Mansfeld sold the Kloster Rode estate to Otto Heinrich von Bodenhausen, who from 1569 onwards constructed a manor house, the present Old Castle, from some of the demolished monastery buildings. Building materials were obtained by partially demolishing the unused monastery church. After being plundered multiple times during the Thirty Years' War, the estate lay desolate from 1630 to 1652. In 1659, Kuno Ordomar von Bodenhausen sold it to his son-in-law Werner von Alvensleben. In 1739, Johann Friedrich von Alvensleben and Joachim Werner von Alvensleben sold it to Adolph Friedrich von der Schulenburg. According to Adolph Friedrich von der Schulenburg's will, the estate was allocated to Albrecht Ludwig von der Schulenburg in 1748, who had a new manor house, the so-called New Castle, built between 1778 and 1783. With the death of Friedrich Albrecht von der Schulenburg in 1853, the comital line of Schulenburg-Klosterrode became extinct. The property was acquired by Werner von der Schulenburg in 1879. In 1904 (formally 1906), Werner von der Schulenburg sold Klosterrode to Maximilian Müller for economic reasons. Müller introduced numerous innovations in agriculture and forestry, including the first steam dairy and the generation of electricity from his own lignite. In 1928, the margarine manufacturer Fauser from Hamburg acquired the Klosterrode estate from Maximilian Müller's bankruptcy estate, but sold a large part of it shortly thereafter.

Kloster Rode is situated in the village of Klosterrode, part of Blankenheim, in the Mansfeld-Südharz district of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.

The former monastery buildings were converted into a manor after secularization. Later, a manor house, the Old Castle, and subsequently a New Castle, were built from parts of the monastic complex. After the Reformation, the site served as an agricultural estate and underwent multiple transformations and expansions.

• Klosterrode Castle (castle, approx. 336 m away)
• Neuglück Manor House (manor house, approx. 2035 m away)
• Bornstedt Castle Ruin (castle, approx. 3343 m away)
• Emseloh Manor House (manor house, approx. 4212 m away)