Kloster Malgarten

Kloster Malgarten stands in the village of Malgarten, part of Bramsche in the Osnabrück district. It began in 1175 as a Benedictine nunnery founded by the Counts of Tecklenburg near Essen in Oldenburg. After a fire in 1194 the community moved five kilometres north-east to a former fort on the River Hase, where the counts built a castle that was later converted into the monastery. The site is worth visiting for its layers of history and fine craftsmanship. The church tower’s three walls date from the 13th century, reused from the castle keep. Inside, a Romanesque three-light window survives from the 12th century, and the Baroque ceiling is attributed to Joseph Geitner. The choir stalls of 1605 show flat carvings, while the pulpit by Thomas Simon Jöllemann depicts the four Evangelists and Doctors of the Church. A monstrance made in 1668 by Johannes Sixtus Hartmann of Osnabrück is also preserved. Visitors find the former west wing of the monastery, rebuilt in the 18th century, now housing a gallery and small café. Remains of late-Gothic wall paintings appear in the late-Romanesque cloister, and a fresco uncovered in 1991 shows the head and crozier of a saint, probably Jerome. South of the tower a two-storey annexe from 1480 still holds its original late-Gothic windows and a Geitner ceiling from about 1750. The church of St Johannes serves the local Catholic parish, and the whole complex is set in quiet countryside near where the Hase meets the Ems.