St. Marienthal Abbey is a Cistercian nunnery in Ostritz, Saxony, on the left bank of the Neisse River. The Neisse forms the border with Poland at this point, and the city of Görlitz lies about 12 miles (20 kilometers) to the north. The abbey was founded in 1234 by Kunigunde of Hohenstaufen, the wife of King Wenceslas I of Bohemia, near a trade route between Prague and Görlitz.
The abbey was destroyed in the Hussite Wars in 1427 and rebuilt in 1452. After a serious fire in 1683, Baroque rebuilding began in 1685. Floods in 1897 and 2010 caused heavy damage.
In 1945 retreating German forces planned to demolish the abbey, but the nuns refused to leave and it was spared. The community survived the East German period, and large-scale restoration began after 1989. The abbey is open to the public.
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