Augustinerkloster

Building began in 1277, and continued into 1300s.
Includes the chapter house, cloister, tower, priory and St Katherine's chapel. In 1482 two Woad houses were built: one for storage of grain, the other to process woad-- the blue dye that helped to make Erfurt's riches. The monks traded in woad to fund the monastery.

Had a notable school, which was started in the early 1300s.
Martin Luther entered the monastery in 1505, was ordained in 1507, and was at the monastery intermittently until sept 1511.

He stopped at the monastery and preached outside of it on his way tot he Diet of Worms (and little child Lutheran me was so disappointed to learn that no, the “evil Catholics” didn't make him eat worms) in 1521

During the beginning of the reformation, the prior supporter Luther, and distributed Luther's writings. In 1522 many of the monks followed Prior Johannes Lang in leaving the Order and becoming Evangelical. When the last monk died, the town council took over the property.

It was used as a school, then part of it reverted back to the Evangelical church. It also housed an orphanage, and in the 1800s, a school for orphaned and neglected children.

The property suffered considerable damage during WW2, leading to the deaths of 267 people who were sheltering there. The Fourteenth Century stained glass windows and many of the books survived, having been removed and stored elsewhere. Today, you can visit the cell Luther lived in after his return from Rome in 1511, and there's a picture of that. Also, the grave of the founder of the monastery, which is where novices would prostrate themselves when they took their vows-- got that too.Read more