Welver Abbey

The monastery of Welver was founded around 1240. Walter Vogt von Soest and his wife Sophia laid the material foundation by selling land and renouncing patronage rights. The first residents came from the Marienborn monastery. In 1244, the new monastery was officially admitted to the Cistercian Order and placed under the authority of Kamp Abbey. Extensive construction work took place between 1251 and 1257, concluding around 1261 with the completion of stone monastery buildings and the church. The economic basis of the monastery was solid, based on donations and the construction of mills. Around 1300, the convent comprised about 50 nuns, mostly from ministerial families and the bourgeoisie of Soest and Dortmund. The monastery was managed until its dissolution in 1809, during the secularization. The patronage was originally Mary, Albanus, Cyriacus and companions, and since 1701, Bernhard.

Welver Monastery is situated in the municipality of Welver, which belongs to the district of Soest in North Rhine-Westphalia. Its geographical elevation is approximately 79 meters above sea level.

The historic monastery church of St. Albanus and Cyriacus now serves as a Protestant parish church. The new monastery church of St. Bernhard, built around 1700, is used as a Catholic parish church.

• Herrenhaus Galen (Welver) (manor house, approx. 1418 m away)
• Herrenhaus Loh (Welver) (manor house, approx. 1855 m away)
• Herrenhaus Sängerhof (Welver) (manor house, approx. 2374 m away)
• Herrenhaus Westen (manor house, approx. 3127 m away)