Maidbronn Abbey

It was founded in 1232 by the Bishop of Würzburg in Bergerbrunn (now Rotkreuzhof in Dürrbachtal) but moved after three years to Etzelnhausen, renamed Maidbronn.

[1] 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.

[1] Some of the conventual buildings survive converted into private houses.

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 by Tilman Riemenschneider, dated to 1525.