Monastery whispers Neuzelle - Discovery Tour

According to tradition, a perfect should be blessed with a beer bath. That might work out in Neuzelle, because it’s a proven fact that the famous Neuzelle monastery brewery has been producing the popular barley brew since 1416. 748 years ago, Heinrich the Illustrious, Margrave of Meissen, founded a monastery for the Cistercian monks in Neuzelle. Today it is the only completely preserved Cistercian monastery in Brandenburg and the largest Baroque memorial in East and North Germany.

Length:  7 kilometres (2 hours)

Start / finish: Neuzelle monastery

Logo/route sign: Not specified

How to get there:

• Public transport: Take the S75 (Wartenberg) from Berlin central station to Ostkreuz. From here take the regional train S3 to Erkner and then the RE7 to Frankfurt (Oder). Here, change once again to the RB11 (Cottbus) and travel to Neuzelle (around 2.5 hours).
• Car: From Berlin along the A113, A10, A12 and the B112 to Neuzelle monastery (around 2 hours)

Route description: The almost completely surviving monastery complex with Baroque monastery garden and orangery, plus the cloisters and enclosures, withstood wars and lootings before being secularised by the Prussian state in 1817. The central point of the complex is formed by the Catholic Collegiate Church of St. Mary and the Protestant Church of the Holy Cross. The underground Museum Himmlisches Theater, built in the monastery’s vineyard, presents two scenes – ‘The Kiss of Judas’ and ‘Carrying the Cross’ – after their restoration, with their stage settings from the Passion Representations of the Holy Sepulchre, formerly performed in Neuzelle each year. The Strohhaus­ und Bauernmuseum (museum of local history) provides an insight into the lives of the servants of the time. Visitors to Neuzelle in the summer should make a note of the international ‘OperOderSpree’ music festival. It is one of the highlights of Brandenburg’s summer of culture. The beer bath was invented at the Kummerower Hof hotel. Here, you can bathe in beer as well as drinking it.

Sights:

• Neuzelle monastery distillery
• Neuzelle Baroque gardens
• Protestant Pfarrkirche zum Heiligen Kreuz parish church
• Cloisters with Neuzelle monastery museum
• Catholic Stiftskirche St. Marien church
• Neuzelle outdoor pool
• Strohhaus Neuzelle (local history museum)
• Bauernmuseum der Agrargenossenschaft Neuzelle (farming museum)
• Kummerower Hof hotel

Possible combinations:

• Imperial mill tour

Underfoot conditions/surface: Not specified

Maps/Literature:

• "Grosse Radwander- und Wanderkarte Naturpark Schlaubetal, Frankfurt (Oder), Guben, Eisenhüttenstadt und Umgebung", 1:50,000, Verlag Dr. Barthel, Auflage: 1 (1. Mai 2013), ISBN: 978-3-89591-202-3, Euro 5.90