Flechtdorf - Kloster Flechtdorf

Kloster Flechtdorf is a former Benedictine abbey. Allegedly in 836, Bishop Badurad von Paderborn arranged for the relics of St Landelin to be transferred from the West Franconian kingdom (France) to Boke in Westphalia. Boke thus became a base for Christianity in newly missionised Saxony.

In 1101, Count Erpo von Padberg and his wife Beatrix von Nidda founded a monastery in Boke. The monastery was endowed with land. However, it only lasted a few years, as the childless death of the founder Beatrix led to a bitter dispute with her relatives. The conflict was resolved by moving the monastery in Boke to Flechtdorf in 1104. Most of the Landolin relics were brought to Flechtdorf.

The church was built from 1120. The building was completed at the beginning of the 13th century as a Gothic hall church. The convent buildings were completed as early as 1180. For the consecration of the church in 1250, Pope Alexander IV granted all benefactors of the abbey an indulgence. The monastery flourished and expanded its property and rights. Thanks to a "miraculous" image of the Virgin Mary and numerous relics, Flechtdorf became a religious centre of attraction for the entire region.

Nevertheless, things went steadily downhill over the next few centuries. A small economic boom at the beginning of the 16th century was brought to an end by the introduction of the Reformation in 1525 and the subsequent dissolution of the monasteries in the county of Waldeck.

This dragon was certainly created at the beginning of the work on the church.