Catholic Collegiate Church of St. Mary

The Catholic Collegiate Church of St. Mary in Neuzelle is known as the Baroque wonder of Brandenburg. The magnificent and completely preserved interior of the Catholic collegiate church of St. Mary is one of the overwhelming impressions of the Neuzelle monastery. The angels, saints and figures of the Virgin Mary are almost impossible to count. The Bohemian architects probably wanted to convey an idea of ​​the kingdom of heaven when they converted the originally Gothic church into a true jewel of the Baroque in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The Baroque Miracle of Brandenburg
After the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), Neuzelle became a Catholic "model monastery" in the midst of a Protestant environment. The baroque staging of theological content is correspondingly impressive - a representative total work of art with an impressive world of images and ideas.

Pure Baroque: From 1650 onwards, the Gothic collegiate church was redesigned - into the antechamber of heaven.
The hall church, which is essentially late Gothic, was extensively rebuilt between 1650 and 1750. The richly decorated altars are particularly impressive, turning the church into a baroque theater setting. The lavish furnishings with stucco, wall and ceiling paintings and the numerous figures, angels and putti come from the Bohemian cultural area, as the monastery had very close ties to Prague at the time. The overwhelming spatial experience of the collegiate church is unique in northeast Germany.

The Catholic Collegiate Church of St. Mary today
Since the monastery was dissolved in 1817, the collegiate church has been used as a Catholic parish church. Today, St. Mary's is the pilgrimage church for the diocese of Görlitz. The Cistercian monks from Heiligenkreuz warmly welcome guests to their daily choral prayers.

The church can be visited individually outside of church services or as part of a guided tour during opening hours (registration at the Neuzelle visitor information center). Students from the Rahnschule Neuzelle have developed a special guided tour for young people. This can be downloaded via a QR code.

There are restricted viewing times during Christmas, New Year's Eve, New Year's Day and Easter, which are available on request.