Patronage church in Welle

The Weller Manor Church, one of the smallest and oldest fieldstone churches in the Altmark, tells the story of a special bond with the von Bismarck family.

The Romanesque church is first mentioned in the second half of the 12th century, so it is already at least 600 years old when the Bismarcks acquire the old estate in Welle in 1780 and thus also take over the patronage of the church. For six generations, until the expropriation of the estate in 1945, this responsibility is passed on within the family.At the beginning of the 2000s, after the acquisition of the Bismarck estate, the opportunity arises to take the church out of the care of the regional church and into private hands. In September 2003, fourteen descendants of Ludolf von Bismarck (1834-1924), former district administrator in the Stendal district and later governor of the Altmark, founded the Förderverein Kirche Welle e.V. The aim is to promote the restoration and preservation of the listed fieldstone church so that church services, weddings, concerts and other cultural events can once again take place there.