Cappenberg Castle

Cappenberg Palace is an important example of Baroque monastic architecture. The historical exhibition rooms regularly host temporary exhibitions and musical and cultural events. The outdoor facilities with the surrounding game park and forest are an attractive excursion and recreational area.

Schloss Cappenberg is currently undergoing extensive renovation!

• Tours of the interior of the museum are possible during the stated opening hours.
• The outdoor area is not freely accessible.

Cappenberg Castle is currently being renovated and cannot be visited!

Cappenberg Castle, formerly also Cappenberg Monastery, is a former Premonstratensian canons' monastery. It is located in the southern Münsterland on the Cappenberg, surrounded by beech forests and meadows. The foundation goes back to Count Gottfried II of Cappenberg, who was later venerated as Saint Gottfried. As the last Count of Cappenberg, he founded a Premonstratensian monastery on the site of his ancestral seat in 1122. The famous poet Annette von Droste-Hülshoff recorded the foundation in poetry many years later.

The monastery was once the first Premonstratensian monastery in the German region and originally a double monastery. Hence its present splendour - for only the nobility were allowed to join this monastic order. Today's castle essentially dates from the end of the 17th century, when there were extensive Baroque alterations and new buildings.

After secularisation, the abbey building was converted into a castle, as it was used as an estate. In 1816, the Prussian Minister of State Karl Freiherr vom und zum Stein bought the estate. He renovated the buildings and thus saved the complex from decay. Together with the estates of Scheda Monastery, Cappenberg was elevated to the status of a manor and was now passed on by inheritance. Since 1926, the estate has been owned by the Counts of Kanitz.

Today, the castle houses a museum under the patronage of the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL). It is currently being extensively restored and redesigned. The surrounding green spaces are used by the von Kanitz family as a vineyard, making this the northernmost vineyard in North Rhine-Westphalia. Wine tastings are available in the castle's café on request.