St. Marienthal Abbey (Ostritz)

The foundation of St. Marienthal Monastery is dated to the year 1234. Initially, the initiative may have come from the Burgraves of Dohna, who were building their own dominion in the region around Ostritz and planned the monastery as a burial place and a site for family remembrance. Later, the Přemyslids incorporated the monastery into their own political strategy. As early as 1235, St. Marienthal was incorporated into the Cistercian Order and assigned to its Bohemian province. The church was consecrated in 1245. Over time, the abbey acquired extensive landholdings, including the town of Ostritz. The monastery gained high jurisdiction in 1346 and brewing rights in 1357. During the Hussite Wars, the abbey was destroyed in 1427 but rebuilt by 1452. Further fires in 1515, 1542, and particularly devastating in 1683, led to renewed destruction, followed by a reconstruction in Baroque style. Despite the Reformation, the monastery was able to secure its continued existence, even though it had to appoint Protestant pastors in some monastic villages. The ecclesiastical ties to Prague were severed in 1783, and the monastery was placed under the Bautzen Cathedral Deanery. The patronage of the monastery is the Assumption of Mary.

The St. Marienthal Monastery is located south of the town center of Ostritz, a district of Görlitz in Saxony, Germany. It lies at an elevation of approximately 211 meters above sea level directly on the left bank of the Lusatian Neisse, which forms the German-Polish border here. The distance to Görlitz is about 20 kilometers.

St. Marienthal Monastery has existed continuously since its foundation in 1234 and is still inhabited and managed by Cistercian nuns today.

• Devotional column near the northern monastery gate St. Marienthal Klosterstraße (near No. 140) (Monastery, approx. 123 m away)
• Individual monument of the St. Marienthal Monastery complex: Stations of the Cross with colossal crucifixion group (see also complex list - Obj. 09302180, St. Marienthal 1-12) Stationsberg (northwest of St. Marienthal Monastery) (Monastery, approx. 208 m away)
• Leuba Castle (Castle, approx. 5528 m away)
• Kiesdorf Manor House (Berzdorf) (Manor and Estate House, approx. 7797 m away)