[1] The previous Cistercian church building was the abbey of the former Conventus Porta Coeli, in 1255 relocated to Himmelpforten on the instigation of the Prince-Archbishop of Bremen.

[3] Noble families from the Elbe–Weser triangle (Bremian ministerialis) bestowed land and dues on the Cistercian nunnery,[4] enabling it to sustain their unmarried kinswomen.

[7] The provost was entitled to nominate the candidates (ius nominandi[8]) to be appointed as pastors in the parishes of Großenwörden, Himmelpforten, and Horst upon Oste [nds].

[3][9] Prince-Archbishop Christopher the Spendthrift's [de] financially burdensome reign (1511–1547 and again 1549–1558) and prodigal lifestyle fostered the spreading of the Reformation in the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen.

[10] By 1550/1555 the Porta Coeli nunnery had transformed into a Lutheran Damsels' Convent,[3] since its aim - to sustain unmarried noble women - was to be maintained.

[13] Between 1628 and 1629 during the Catholic Leaguist conquest and subsequent occupation of the Prince-Archbishopric in the course the Thirty Years' War most Protestant preachers fled the area or were exiled.

[22] In 1681 Samuel Friedrich Riedell, bailiff of the seigniorial Amt Himmelpforten, informed Bremen-Verden's Governour-General Henrik Horn about the expert report of Master Mason Daniel Sommer from Stade that many of the vaults and the western gable of the abbey church were on the verge to collapse, the same was true for most of the outside walls, already giving way to the pressure by the deranged vaults.

[23][24] In 1684 the Bremen-Verdian general government ordered a greater repair of the decayed church, and also the remaining convent buildings were restored to some extent, all carried out by the socage farmers.

[1] Otto Heinrich von Bonn [de] (1703–1785), Landbaumeister (i.e. State Construction Master, about public works architect) planned to renovate the existing church, and calculated cost of Rixdollar (Rtlr) 2,290:26:00.

[28] However, Bonn's plan was not acknowledged by the general government of British-Hanoverian Bremen-Verden and thus the old church was mostly torn down in 1737,[24] and rebuild to half of its previous length and slightly narrower.

In 1759 the Amt Himmelpforten adjusted the church attic as a seigniorial granary for the dues in kind it collected, a wheel of the crane of which is preserved under the roof until today.

[29] Inside, above the western door there is a decorated relief monogrammed with the initials G.R.II in honour of the then Supreme Governor of the Lutheran church, George II, King and Elector of Great Britain and Hanover.

[19] Furthermore, there are a paten granted by the Conventual Anna Voss in 1648,[19] and a silver, internally gilded jug, created in 1780 fulfilling the last will of the widow of Bailiff Tiling, née Prilop (d.

[19] In 1684 on the occasion of the renovation of the abbey, during the term of Bailiff Lothar Feindt, an unknown donator granted a wooden putto which was later translated to the new church.

[19] On the southern wall is a mounted sandstone epitaph for Prioress Maria von Weyhe (officiating between 1591 and 1616), translated from the old church and dating from the first half of the 17th century displaying the Weyhe family coat of arms, baroque figural allegories of Faith, Hope and Charity, reliefs of the Transfiguration of Jesus and of Jesus with the five wise virgins.

[41] Left and right the pulpit is flanked by veil-like carved elements bearing the Latin inscription «Vere hic est nihil aliud - nisi domus Dei et porta coeli» (English: Here is none other than the house of God, and the gate of Heaven.

[31] Since 1985 they are hung on the parapet of the northern gallery[41] beginning with the triumphal entry into Jerusalem and ending with the descent from the Cross, with each painting showing the coats of arms of the donating families from Stade's St. Nicholas parish (such as Marschalck von Bachtenbrock [de], Stade's then burgomaster Heinrich Hintze [1576–1646], Johann von der Medem [1580–1644]) and canting arms of craftspeople.

[40] In 1677 Arp Schnitger rebuilt the organ on the occasion of a general reshape of the interior of St. Nicholas, applying a new case and adding more voices.

[47] In 1955/1956 Paul Ott [de] - under consultation by Alfred Hoppe[40] - renovated Himmelpforten's organ, including many changes to case, action, pipe work and console.

[40] During massive constructions in order to repair the roof and to enforce the stability of the ridge turret, accompanied by a general refurbish of the church interior, from 1982 to 1987, Alfred Führer [de] completely disassembled the pipes, overhauled them in a safe place, and reassembled them afterwards.

[49] By the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 the prince-archiepiscopal elective monarchy had been secularised as the heritable Duchy of Bremen, which was jointly ruled with the new Principality of Verden, as Bremen-Verden, since both imperial fiefs were bestowed on the Swedish crown.

[50] By the 1650s the previous religious bodies, such as the Lutheran Bremen cathedral chapter or the archdeaconries, had been abolished, their revenues mostly confiscated, with only few of them not granted to Swedish war veterans.

[52] Then Carl Lichtenberg [de], the new Hanoverian minister of cult and education (1862–1865), for the first time convened the long withheld church legislative assembly, called the Vorsynode (i.e.

The fact that, unlike in the synod of the Stade deanery, the Regional Church Rally won the majority in the all-Hanoverian Landessynode, allowed its pre-1933 leadership, including Landesbischof August Marahrens to stay in office.

[57] Whereas 1933 twelve out of 33 Lutheran pastors in the Stade deanery had joined the German Christians, five - Gustav Mohr among them - were even Nazi party members, in 1935 two thirds of them aligned themselves with the Confessing Church.

[58] German Christians in the presbyteries had often resigned or jumped ship so that the Nazis mostly gave up capturing the church from within through compliant collaborators but intensified the control from outside by secret police, denunciators and general criminalisation.

[57] The declared German Christian Pastor Gustav Mohr was infamous for even wearing his Nazi party badge on his gown while preaching.

The section stretching northerly is divided by a central avenue, east of it residents of Himmelpforten are buried, west thereof gravesites serve the people from the other parish villages.

[49] In 1780 the pastoral salary comprised leases from the leaseholders of glebe, Ablösen[63] from former leaseholders, fees for peat cutting on glebe land (Torfgrabgeld), the geese fee (Gänsegeld) at St. Martin's Day, and parishioners' dues in kind (rye and eggs), certain farmers were further obliged to provide fares and hauls to and from Stade on behalf of the pastor.

[49] Besides this salary the sexton received other revenues, such as dues on the occasion of Advent and Easter (shilling [s] 5½[64] and six eggs per household in Himmelpforten proper, s 11 and twelve eggs per household in the outlying parochial villages, hay from the cemetery, 6 Himten[65] of rye from the seigniorial granary of the Amt Himmelpforten, additional rye from the owners of certain farmsteads).