In 1141, Adalbero, Archbishop of Hamburg, ordered the transfer of the Kanonissenstift Heeslingen to quieter Zeven. Whatever had happened, here the women in their monastery - later a Benedictine convent - should devote their lives undisturbed to prayer. Soon after the laying of a stone church was built until about 1158-. It is preserved in its Romanesque style and the cross-shaped floor plan to this day.
The Zeven church is named after the Christian martyr Vitus. Legend has it that his father, a judge and finally Emperor Diocletian himself wanted to force him to worship the pagan Roman gods. Vitus, however, held on to his belief and was executed for it - at the age of 12 years. In 1231, his relics were transferred from Corvey to Zeven, making the church and monastery an important and rich pilgrimage site.
Since the Reformation in the 16th century, Protestants and Catholics have been fighting for supremacy over the church and monastery. It was not until the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) that a series of Lutheran pastors, uninterrupted to the present, began. With the peace agreement, the Swedes were awarded Zeven. They dissolved the monastery. As a result, the church was finally the church of the Protestant-Lutheran community Zeven.
The Romanesque church had a simple, cone-shaped tower dome. It was replaced in the 18th century by an eight-sided, baroque-curved tower dome with a lantern. This is preserved until today. A visit to the St. Viti Church is worthwhile: parts of the inventory are preserved from the monastery: so bronze baptismal font (1469) with numerous relief figures of saints or the small stone figure of St. Vitus from the 16th century and the pulpit ( 1565) in Renaissance style with four carved and painted panels. In 1750 Christian father created the baroque prospectus of the organ.
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