History

The composition of this gin is something very special. Based on a centuries-old knowledge in monasteries about herbs, grains and the right cultivation, monks have joined forces to develop a very special product. The basic ingredient is, as in every good gin, juniper and then a selection of the best herbs from monastery gardens was chosen and mixed with matching botanicals. Here a selection of coriander, ginger root, lemon balm and others was chosen. This gin is something special, because it combines the knowledge of a centuries-old European monastery history with the modern techniques of gin production. Do not miss this pleasure.

Helfta Monastery

Foundation

The monastery was founded in 1229 near Mansfeld Castle by Count Burchard von Mansfeld and his wife, Countess Elisabeth von Schwarzburg at their Mansfeld Castle (Thal-Mansfeld) as a house monastery of the Counts of Mansfeld and was staffed with seven nuns from the St. Jacobi Monastery outside Halberstadt. In 1234 the widow of Burchard I moved the convent to Rothardesdorf. Countess Elisabeth, who had joined the convent after the death of her husband, died there in 1240. In 1258 the nuns moved to Helfta due to a great lack of water. The gravestone of the founding couple, which is held in high esteem and apparently also relocated again and again, is kept today in the St. Andreas Church in Eisleben.

Golden age

At the Helfta site the convent developed to a considerable size of at times more than 100 nuns. Under the wise leadership of Abbess Gertrud von Hackeborn, the community flourished not only numerically but also spiritually. She attached great importance to the theological and scientific education of her sisters. Gertrud was convinced that without reason, faith would also be lost. Thus the convent ran a school and produced the famous mystics Gertrud von Helfta and Mechtild von Hackeborn. The nuns lived according to the Regula Benedicti and adopted the Cistercian reforms.

Decline

After several plunders in the 13th and 14th, the monastery was moved again in 1343 - in front of the city walls of Eisleben. But even here the nuns were not safe and in 1525 the last remaining nuns fled during a renewed devastation of the monastery. In 1542, the convent was finally mentioned in documents for the last time during the secularisation. In the following centuries, the property changed hands before it was converted into a "Volkseigenes Gut" of the GDR in 1945.

Reconstruction

At the end of the 20th century, associations for the reconstruction of Helfta Monastery joined forces and were able to collect enough donations together to buy the site. In the spring of 1998, construction work on the monastery began under the auspices of the diocese of Magdeburg. On 13 August 1999, after more than 450 years, Cistercian nuns moved back into Helfta.