Abbey Chamber in the Petri Chapel

Freckenhorst Abbey

In the shadow of the impressive collegiate church of St Boniface in the Freckenhorst district of Warendorf lies St Peter's Chapel. Like the collegiate church, it dates back to the early Romanesque period and has housed the Stiftskammer since 2001. The small museum is full of treasures from over 1000 years of abbey history. The oldest object in the collection is a parchment manuscript with the four Gospel texts from the end of the 10th century.

• Tours of the Abbey Chamber are possible during the stated opening hours from April to the end of October.
• Individual and group tours are also possible outside the opening hours by prior appointment at the parish office.
• In the winter months of November to the end of March, the Stiftskammer can only be visited on request.
  

The collegiate church in Freckenhorst is one of the most important Romanesque buildings in Westphalia, along with the patroclic church in Soest. The collegiate church in Freckenhorst was consecrated in 1129, but looks back on a much longer history from the ninth century. The baptismal font, which is still preserved today, also dates from the time of the church's consecration. Freckenhorst Abbey was initially founded as a monastery and was converted into a free-world ladies' abbey in the 15th century. Before that, the former Romanesque church of the former monastery was destroyed by a devastating fire. The present collegiate church was then built. The convent continued to exist until 1811, when it was abolished on Napoleon's orders following the French victory over Prussia. The collegiate church is still the centre of Freckenhorst today.

The Petri Chapel in the west of the mighty collegiate church is said to date back to the 10th/11th century. Examinations of the masonry confirm this date of origin. According to tradition, the Petri Chapel was the first church in Freckehorst, on which the monastery and later the foundation were historically based. Since 2001, the Petri Chapel has housed the Stiftskammer museum. The collection includes treasures from over 1000 years of monastery and abbey history and is thus the most important treasury of ecclesiastical art in Ostmünsterland.