Marienfließ: Monastery, Spring Trail and Sand Heaths

Marienfließ combines a medieval monastery with a park on the Stepenitz and a landscape shaped by sand heaths. These places offer different ways to plan your trip: you can explore the monastery’s history, take in the park and orchard meadow, or consider the landscape sections along the Quellweg Monastery Trail.

Monastery and collegiate church

Marienfließ Monastery was built in 1231 by Johann Gans zu Putlitz and is the oldest Cistercian convent in the Prignitz. The year and the founder’s name give the place a clear historical context; its status as a Cistercian convent also makes religious history a distinct topic. The Marienfließ collegiate church preserves the coats of arms and epitaphs of the Prignitz noble families. This adds memorials to the region’s noble history to the story of the monastery’s founding.

Park, Spring Trail and landscape

Marienfließ Monastery Park covers 3.5 hectares along the Stepenitz, lined with trees designated as natural monuments. Benches invite visitors to linger, and the orchard meadow offers opportunities to enjoy nature. The Quellweg Monastery Trail starts and ends at the bridge behind the collegiate church on the Stepenitz. Its route passes through heathland and forest to a quiet spring area. Unlike the park along the Stepenitz, the Quellweg follows a succession of landscapes, from heathland through forest to the spring area.

Sand heaths and cycling

The Marienfließ Natura 2000 site is also shaped by its sandy conditions: extensive areas of dry sandy grassland and dry sand heath have developed on nutrient-poor sandy soils. This offers a different focus for trip planning than the monastery area: instead of monastic history and the park, the landscape is defined by sandy soil, dry grassland and dry heath. For cyclists, the Gänsetour is worth considering: the cycle route passes through Krempendorf, a district of the municipality of Marienfließ. The routes can be distinguished geographically: the Quellweg starts and ends at the bridge behind the collegiate church; the Gänsetour passes through Krempendorf.

The Prignitz as a broader travel destination

In the broader travel destination of the Prignitz, the Brandenburg section of the cross-state “Flusslandschaft Elbe – Brandenburg” Biosphere Reserve covers about 53,000 hectares and lies almost entirely within the district of Prignitz. This gives a sense of the scale of the Prignitz landscape.

The cultural offerings of the Prignitz also have different focal points. The Pritzwalk Museum Factory has a permanent exhibition on the history of industrialisation in rural areas; visitors can take part in activities in the museum print shop and hand-weaving workshop. The Lenzen Castle Visitor Centre focuses on the natural and cultural history of the river landscape, floodplain ecology, flood protection and the biosphere reserve. The 1,000-year history of the town of Lenzen can also be experienced there through its cultural history.

When looking for a hotel in Marienfließ, it helps to decide first on the scope of your trip: would you like to focus mainly on the town, with its monastery, park and sandy landscape, or include the cultural and natural attractions of the Prignitz as a broader travel destination?

Discover more destinations: Jännersdorf, Mansfeld, Bad Wilsnack/Weisen, Groß Pankow, Lenzen, Pritzwalk, Wittenberge, Eldenburg

View the broader travel guide: Prignitz.