Marienkirche

St. Marien - Stiftbergkirche

It is thanks to a medieval apparition of the Virgin Mary that a convent was founded on the hill outside Herford. The convent was reformed early on and abolished in 1810. Built in the first quarter of the 14th century as a pilgrimage church, the high Gothic hall church, with an almost square ground plan (Westphalian square), is today the parish church of the Stiftberg. However, the church could be assumed to have been built much earlier on the other side of the hill. The first building from 1011 consisted of a tower with a narrow nave (3 bays long) with a rectangular end.
It has a remarkable Gothic high altar with a tree trunk as a relic on which, according to the vision legend, Mary sat down in the form of a dove. The canopy is crowned by a double Madonna surrounded by doves. The figures of the Virgin Mary dominate as stone or wooden sculptures. During the Napoleonic occupation, the church was misused as a stable.