Loccum Abbey

Loccum Abbey, near Lake Steinhude in Lower Saxony, Germany, was founded in 1163 as a Roman Catholic Cistercian monastery under Count Wilbrand of Hallermund, settled by monks from Volkenroda Abbey under first abbot Ekkehard, on ground its own tradition describes as a wilderness the monks transformed into cultivated land. Its abbey church, dedicated to Saints Mary and George, was completed around 1250, and the well-preserved late Romanesque monastic buildings are considered comparable in importance to those of Maulbronn and Bebenhausen. Loccum became a Lutheran monastery at the Reformation while keeping the title of abbot and much of its monastic routine, and by 1700 its abbot was even permitted to marry, with a residence built in Hanover for his household. Since 1891 the abbey has also housed a Protestant seminary and academy, and its small resident community today typically numbers between four and eight members.