For more than 750 years, a Cistercian convent at Panschwitz-Kuckau has been in existence, serving as an important cultural center for the Sorbian minority.
The place Panschwitz-Kuckau situated in Oberlausitz bears a close connection to the monastery St. Marienstern. Here´s the place where the catholic Sorbs were able to preserve their belief. The cool shadow of the nearly thousand-year old monastery walls served as a protection against the one or other times of drought.
Even today, St. Marienstern is populated by a dozen of so-called „Zisterzienser Nuns“. However, the largest part of the facility is reserved for the public and a popular tourist attraction. The late Gothic abbey impresses with its architectonic features. Apart from this, the tourist place comes with plenty of other offer: Bakery, herb garden, a shop, and even a bed and breakfast inn. Those, who are up to taste the most typical of all the monastery products – namely the Abbey beer – should visit the town Wittichenau, which is located nearby. Since the DDR-Government divested the monastery of the brewing right in 1973, the “Kloster St. Marienstern – Klosterbraeu“ has been produced there.