Maidbronn Abbey (; ) was a

Cistercian nunnery Cistercian nuns are female members of the Cistercian Order, a religious order of the Catholic Church. History The Cistercian Order was initially a male order. Cistercian female monasteries began to appear by 1125. The first Cistercian monastery ...

Maidbronn Maidbronn is a village in Bavaria, Germany, located about northeast of Würzburg. It is part of the municipality Rimpar Rimpar is a market town in the district of Würzburg in the German state of Bavaria. It is located about 10 km (6&nbs ...

in the present municipality of

Rimpar Rimpar is a market town in the district of Würzburg in the German state of Bavaria. It is located about 10 km (6 mi) north of the City of Würzburg. The municipality includes the villages of Gramschatz and Maidbronn, incorporated in 19 ...

in Bavaria, Germany. It was founded in 1232 by the

Bishop of Würzburg A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...

in Bergerbrunn (now Rotkreuzhof in Dürrbachtal) but moved after three years to Etzelnhausen, renamed Maidbronn. The spiritual director was the abbot of Ebrach, later the abbot of Langheim.HDBG: Kloster Maidbronn
/ref> By the 1260s the abbey was flourishing to the extent that it was able to send a contingent of nuns to establish the newly-founded

Sonnefeld Abbey Sonnefeld Abbey (; ) is a former Cistercian nunnery in Sonnefeld in Bavaria, Germany. The former abbey church, or ''Klosterkirche'', is now an Evangelical Lutheran parish church. History Foundation The nunnery, dedicated to the Blessed Virg ...

. During the rest of the 13th century the building of the church was completed. From the 14th century onwards the abbey was in steady decline, caused mainly by its chronic financial difficulties. In 1513 it was taken over as a priory by Langheim Abbey; the four nuns still in residence were allowed to remain, although they were forced to flee in the Peasants' War in 1525. It was eventually dissolved in 1581. Some of the conventual buildings survive converted into private houses. The former abbey church, dedicated to Saint Afra, although reduced to about half of its original length, continues in use as the parish church of Maidbronn. The church did not undergo the elaborate Baroque restoration usual in Bavaria and remains a simple building, distinguished by the altarpiece of the ''

Lamentation of Christ The Lamentation of Christ is a very common subject in Christian art from the High Middle Ages to the Baroque. After Crucifixion of Jesus, Jesus was crucified, his Descent from the Cross, body was removed from the cross and his friends mourned over ...

'' by

Tilman Riemenschneider Tilman Riemenschneider ( 1460 – 7 July 1531) was a German wood carving, woodcarver and sculptor active in Würzburg from 1483. He was one of the most prolific and versatile sculptors of the transition period between the Gothic art, Late Gothi ...

, dated to 1525.Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege: Rimpar - Baudenkmäler
/ref>

References

Further reading