Kloster Ilsenburg

Ilsenburg Monastery in the Harz Mountains used to be a Benedictine abbey. The monastery complex was built as early as the 10th to 12th centuries. From 1974, the town of Ilsenburg, as the owner, had the sacred building restored.

Ilsenburg Monastery in the Harz Mountains: Basic Information

• Location: Schloßstraße 26, 38871 Ilsenburg
• Contact: Phone 039452-80155, Mail info@kloster-ilsenburg.de
• Opening hours: from November to April Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 15:00, from May to October Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 to 16:30
• Admission: €4.00 per person
• Guided tours also outside opening hours, please call 039452-80155 to make an appointment, guided tours for 6,00 € per person.

Your visit to Ilsenburg Monastery

With its location on the Romanesque Route, the monastery is an impressive sight. Parts of the earliest building history are still preserved. When you enter the castle courtyard, you will see the castle on the right, which was only built in the 19th century, and the guest house, which is 200 years older. To the left rise the ruins of a Romanesque basilica from the 11th century. An English landscape garden borders the monastery to the east and south. At first glance, the cloistered buildings of Ilsenburg Monastery seem rather unspectacular, but the medieval rooms inside are absolutely worth seeing. The chapter, the garden hall, the brother's hall and the refectory are magnificent testimonies to Romanesque architecture.

Ilsenburg Monastery in the Harz Mountains: Events

The old rooms provide the perfect setting for cultural events. These include chamber concerts, readings and lectures. In the over 1,000-year-old monastery church, brilliant choir and orchestra concerts take place. The dormitory, on the other hand, offers modern art. It was dedicated to Hans-Dietrich von Zanthier. The forester founded the first forestry school on German soil in the 18th century, which is commemorated today by lectures. An adjacent area shows a model of the Romanesque Road and an exhibition on the history of Ilsenburg Monastery.

History of Ilsenburg Monastery

After its construction until the 12th century, Ilsenburg Monastery in the Harz Mountains was one of the most important and prosperous monasteries in the region, as the furnishings of the church, the east wing and the refectory with its mighty columns still suggest. After the Ottomans had begun building a castle in the late 10th century, which the Benedectines continued in the 11th century, a donation by Otto III (Emperor of (980 - 1002), confirmed by King Henry II (973 - 1024), led to further expansion. The first mention of the complex as "Elysynaburg" dates from 995. The Halberstadt bishops used and supported the monastery until the 12th century, while the counts from Wernigerode and Stolberg acted as patrons. The heyday of Ilsenburg Monastery in the Harz Mountains lasted until the 16th century. Then it gradually began to decay due to a lack of financial resources. Some individual buildings were demolished. Until then, kings and emperors had made active use of Ilsenburg Monastery; Emperor Otto III made hunting trips from here. In 998, he gave Ilsenburg to the Bishop of Halberstadt, Arnulf. The donation was confirmed by Henry II in 1003 and became legally binding in 1007. The Benedictine abbey then came into being. As the emperors still needed a castle in the region, they had a replacement castle built in the Ilse Valley on the Ilse Stone.