Heilig Kreuz

Heilig Kreuz is the church of Germany’s oldest surviving Dominican nunnery, with convent life continuing since 1233. Its walls preserve centuries of prayer and daily convent life. The church began beside an old stone quarry, where a single-nave medieval building was complete by 1244. Tall windows and a simple wooden ceiling mark its earlier structure. A Romanesque crucifix forms the centre of the high altar, linking the church’s medieval origins with its later decoration. The Romanesque crucifix was moved here in 1669.

Eighteenth-century Rococo craftsmen transformed the medieval hall with a carved altar, elaborate plasterwork, and paintings from 1750 onwards. Saints and scenes present the history of the Dominican order. A figure of Saint Blasius recalls Dominican friars who served the sisters as confessors. Wars and secularisation did not end the convent’s continuous religious life. Postwar restoration revived the interior’s colours, while modern sisters continue prayer and service at Heilig Kreuz. Heilig Kreuz forms part of a UNESCO World Heritage site.