Flechtdorf Monastery

Flechtdorf is best known for its church, which belonged to the Flechtdorf Monastery, which was dissolved in 1598.

The monastery church of St. Mary was likely built starting in 1130. It stands out above all for its two massive towers.

Double towers are rather uncommon in the Waldeck region. The church was built in several phases. Initially as a Romanesque basilica, it took on a transitional style in the 13th century, as seen, for example, in the southern aisle. In the mid-17th century, the St. Maria monastery church was given a new look when it was rebuilt with significant changes following a fire. At that time, it received, among other things, the end wall in place of the choir, a uniform gable roof, and an originally existing east tower was demolished.
Among the more interesting details inside the monastery church in Flechtdorf—now a Protestant church —are a bas-relief depicting a dragon on the south wall of the transept and the 16th-century baptismal font. The choir stalls come from the former monastery in Volkhardinghausen near Bad Arolsen, which had been demolished in the 17th century.
After the dissolution of the Flechtdorf monastery, the Counts of Waldeck initially used the grounds as an agricultural estate. From the early 18th century onward, a hospital moved into the monastery buildings.

Since then, numerous concerts and musical events, workshops and Christmas markets, open-air movies, and “Open Monument Days” have attracted many visitors who come to tour the restored parts of the monastery and participate in the events.