Neuzelle is situated in the north of the historic Lower Lusatia region near the border with Poland, about 8 km (5.0 mi) south of Eisenhüttenstadt.

The municipal area along the Dorche creek, a tributary of the Oder River, since 2001 also comprises the villages of Bahro, Bomsdorf, Göhlen, Henzendorf, Kobbeln, Möbiskruge, Ossendorf, Schwerzko, Steinsdorf, Streichwitz, and Treppeln.

The abbey was established as Nova Cella on 12 October 1268 by the Wettin margrave Henry III of Lusatia in remembrance of his deceased wife Agnes of Bohemia.

It remained Catholic during the Protestant Reformation, even after the Lutheran Electorate of Saxony had acquired the Lusatias from the Habsburg Emperor Ferdinand II by the 1635 Peace of Prague.

Heavily demolished in the Thirty Years' War, the church was again rebuilt in a Baroque style including rich interior decorations quite unique in Northern Germany.