Kloster Brunshausen

About the museum

The Brunshausen monastery hill is considered the nucleus of Gandersheim: in 852 Liudolf and Oda, the founding couple of the Ottonian dynasty, housed the convent of their newly founded women's collegiate foundation here, until it moved to the foundation buildings in town in 881. Brunshausen then remained a convent dependent on the foundation; apart from a brief period in the 12th century when monks lived there, it was home to Benedictine nuns, and it became Protestant with the Reformation in 1568.

Princess-Abbess Elisabeth Ernestine Antonie of Saxe-Meiningen had the complex remodeled into a Baroque summer residence between 1713 and 1726. There she kept her collections of paintings, books, and natural history specimens; large murals with views of distant cities and landscapes still adorn the rooms today. After secularization in 1810, the ensemble long served as farm buildings.

In the final months of the war in 1944/45, the Nazis set up a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp in the monastery church, whose prisoners were forced to work for an armaments factory; at the same time, the grounds housed a so-called “Kinderpflegestätte” (infant care facility) in which babies died.

The Portal zur Geschichte association, founded in 2002, opened part of its museum project on the history of the Gandersheim foundation at Kloster Brunshausen in May 2007. In the summer palace it presents the permanent exhibition on the abbess's Baroque passion for collecting as well as changing special exhibitions; the exhibition areas in the monastery church and in the collegiate church are currently closed.

Highlights

• Baroque murals with views of the pyramids, Isfahan, and Rome in the summer palace
• Collections of Princess-Abbess Elisabeth Ernestine Antonie: paintings, books, natural history specimens
• Romanesque monastery church, birthplace of the Gandersheim women's foundation (852)
• Memorial site for the Gandersheim concentration camp subcamp of 1944/45
• Themed tours also covering the collegiate church, the Kaisersaal, and Roswitha von Gandersheim

Permanent exhibitions

• Barocke Sammelleidenschaft – The rooms of the summer palace, with their murals, paintings, books, and natural history specimens, convey the self-image of an 18th-century princess-abbess.

Founded

2007

Operated by

Portal zur Geschichte e.V.

Admission & discounts

Regular admission without special exhibition €3; during special exhibitions €6/€5.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible: no information
• Elevator: no information
• Accessible restroom: no information
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome: no information
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

According to the museum, access to the Stiftssaal in the summer palace is barrier-free; please inquire in advance for further details.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Kids’ birthday parties

Creative workshops on historical crafts for children, families, and school classes as well as holiday pass activities; children's birthday parties, also with a creative component, on request.

Getting there & parking

The museum hasn’t published any information on this – please ask the museum directly.

Amenities & dining

• Café

At the Klosterhof Brunshausen: Rosencafé and Café des Klosterhofs (independent businesses, partner restaurants of the museum) as well as a farm shop.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent
• Weddings / ceremonies

Up to 34 guests.

Civil weddings in the Stiftssaal of the summer palace (seating for up to 34 people, accessible); room rental €150 plus registry office fees, chair covers €50. Marriage notice via the Bad Gandersheim registry office.

Plan your visit