Cyriacuskloster Naumburg

The Cyriacuskloster Naumburg stands in the Wetterau region near Nidderau-Erbstadt. It began as a small Benedictine priory first recorded in 1035. The site later became Schloss Naumburg after the monastery was dissolved in the mid-16th century. The priory belonged to Speyer’s bishops until 1146, when it passed to Limburg Abbey. By the late Middle Ages it housed only seven or eight monks and relied on gifts from local nobles and wealthy families. The monastery held important relics, including a piece of wood said to be from Christ’s cross. Its seal read ‘Sigillum Monasterii Nuwenburg, prope Wonnecken’. In 1356 the monks bought the Fronhof from the lords of Eichen, showing their growing wealth. They also appointed parish priests in Bruchköbel, Kesselstadt and Oberissigheim until Hanau took that right in 1561. Erasmus Alberus, a local theologian, later mocked the decaying monastery in one of his fables. Today the surviving buildings form part of Schloss Naumburg. A single medieval view shows a three-aisled basilica dedicated to Saints Cyriacus and the Holy Cross, with a lower transept and red-framed doors and windows. Beside it stands the older Liebfrauenkapelle. Below the complex eight kneeling monks are painted, each named. The site offers quiet walks among remnants of cloister and church set against gentle Wetterau countryside.