Niederehe - Kloster Niederehe

Kloster Niederehe is a former Premonstratensian monastery, founded in 1162 by the local nobles. It was planned to have a convent in accordance with the Augustine rule for unmarried aristocratic daughters. The erection of the church and first convent buildings was done up to 1175. In 1225 the Archbishop of Cologne transferred the convent to the Steinfeld Abbey - and so monastery in Niederehe followed the rules of the Premonstratensian order.

In the next centuries the economic situation of the went worse and the nuns ran into debts. When in the second half of the 15th century a fire devastated the monastery building and parts of the church, many people saw this as a sign from heaven. After years of reconstruction, the Niederehe Monastery was converted into a male monastery in 1505.

In 1567, the Lords of Manderscheid-Schleiden converted to Protestantism. While the nave of the church was now used for Protestant services, the choir room was reserved for the Catholic community of Niederehe and the monastery. In 1593 the county became a Catholic again. In the 18th century, extensive renovations and new buildings were realized.

When French Revolutionary troops took over the left bank of the Rhine the monastic life ended. In 1803, the monastery was dissolved under Napoleon Bonaparte in the course of secularization, the last prior became the pastor of Niederehe. The monastery belonged to the French state and was auctioned in 1804. The church and parts of the monastery buildings went to the parish.