Schwesternhaus Mariental, genannt Niesing, Münster

The former convent of Niesing, also called Mariental, stood in Münster for nearly four centuries. Founded in 1444 by three sisters from Schüttorf, it followed the Augustinian rule and grew quickly. By the late 15th century the community numbered ninety-nine sisters, supported by farms and houses inside and outside the city. The convent survived plague, civic unrest and the Anabaptist siege of 1534. After returning in 1540 it flourished again, reaching forty-three sisters around 1710. New Baroque wings were added in 1635 and 1786, including a sick ward and a girls’ school wing designed by Anton Wilhelm Thelen. Today only a small side building remains on Servatii Square. The convent’s archive, saved from the 1534 iconoclasm, is kept in the State Archive. A Low German songbook written by Sister Catherina Tirs around 1588 is among its treasures.