The former Franciscan monastery, today the Kulturquartier Mönchenkloster, was built around 1500. The Lutherans in the city were a thorn in the side of the Franciscans – they refuted Luther’s theses and, in 1519, one of their monks denounced the reformatory preacher Thomas Müntzer to the bishop of Brandenburg. For a long time, the convent resisted dissolution. In 1564 two monks were still living in the convent.
The late-Gothic church was redesigned as a library and location for events in 1981-85. The cloister is home to the town museum.
