Benediktinerinnenkloster Osterholz-Scharmbeck

The Benedictine convent of Osterholz stands in the town of Osterholz-Scharmbeck in Lower Saxony. Founded in 1182 by Archbishop Siegfried I of Anhalt, it began as a double monastery for men and women before becoming a women’s house in 1202. The site includes the Romanesque-Gothic church of St Marien, rebuilt after a fire in 1345, a 1562 hospital and guesthouse, and a high medieval brick wall with regular buttresses. The convent’s history reflects the region’s religious changes. After the Reformation it was led by Protestant provosts from 1550, survived plundering in the Thirty Years War, and was finally dissolved by the Swedes in 1650. The nuns stayed on with life tenures and taught local children. A 1710 school opened in the old gatehouse, and the adjacent cemetery was moved in the 1760s. Visitors find the former convent buildings grouped around a quiet square. The church’s two-aisled hall interior and 1345 vaulting remain visible. The hospital block, now the Martin-Luther-Haus, still shows its 1562 inscription and sandstone relief. Nearby are the 1858 district court, a 1735 former official’s house, and the Museumsanlage with its local, bird and peat-shipping exhibits. The bronze Christophorusbrunnen of 2005 marks the former site of the Amtslinde.