Nonnenwerth

Nonnenwerth Island

Nonnenwerth is an island near Bad Honnef in the Rhine, upriver from Cologne, administratively part of Remagen in Rhineland-Palatinate.

Religious houses

The island is mainly known as the site of a monastery of Benedictine nuns, later a Franciscan convent.

First foundation

There was a community of Benedictine nuns here from its foundation in 1126, by Archbishop Frederick I of Cologne and Abbot Kuno of Siegburg. In 1465 it joined the reform movement of the Bursfelde Congregation, but was severely damaged in 1477 during hostilities with Burgundy. It also suffered greatly from marauding Swedish troops in 1632, during the Thirty Years' War.

In 1773 it was destroyed by fire, and rebuilt in the Baroque style. In 1802 the nunnery was dissolved as part of the secularisation of ecclesiastical property. In 1821 the premises were sold by auction and used as an inn. This was visited by Franz Liszt, who composed the piece "Die Zelle in Nonnenwerth" about it.

Second foundation

In 1854 the buildings were acquired by Franciscans Religious Sisters for a convent. During World War I the Sisters began to teach girls and a secondary school soon developed, still in operation.

Coordinates: 50°38′N 7°13′E / 50.633°N 7.217°E / 50.633; 7.217


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