Helenenberg Former Monastery

At the intersection of many old pilgrimage routes, roughly halfway between Trier and Bitburg on a dominant hill, lies an area that Archbishop John II of Trier donated to his chancellor Dr. Ludolf von Enschringen in 1485. It was intended for a monastery, which four priests and two lay brothers from Cologne named Helenenberg after St. Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine. The late Gothic convent church, consecrated in 1489, was dedicated to St. Valentine, the helper in the "falling sickness", and became the destination of pilgrimages, sometimes with jumping processions.
The Mainz architect Gottfried Scheidweiler was commissioned in 1747 to build the impressive new baroque pilgrimage church. The consecration took place on August 10, 1766.
Apart from the church tower, the baroque monastery complex has remained almost unchanged despite many internal renovations and a major fire in 1980. The once magnificent west front is reminiscent of the facade of Himmerod.
The former single-nave nave is a mighty building that has been divided into several floors since 1895. The church today consists of the three-bay choir (date 1518 on the vault) with a 3/8 end. The church has a net vault with painted coats of arms and richly structured tracery windows.
In the southern choir end window there is a magnificent late Gothic glass painting with the head of St. Bishop Valentinus. Worth mentioning is the sacrament house with a slim, high tower top from 1525, approx. 9.50 m high.
An imposing carved altarpiece from the first half of the 15th century dominates the current church space.
Helenenberg was abolished in 1802 and sold in 1805. The monastery building complex could be used for agricultural purposes. This ensured the preservation of the entire extensive building complex.
Today, the extensive building complex houses the Don Bosco youth welfare center.