When you enter the church through the front door, you will find yourself in the choir room. This is where the service of the Protestant congregation still takes place today. The Benedictine monastery of Breitenau was founded in 1113 and the Romanesque pillar basilica consisting of three naves was completed around 1250. A cloister could be found on the north side of the church; stables and barns were located on the west side of the site.

After the dissolution of the monastery during the Reformation and various modifications had taken place as well as a period of decay, the site was given a completely new purpose in the 19^th century. In the course of setting up the institution for corrections and the rural poor (Correktions- und Landarmenanstalt Breitenau), the church building was divided to form both a prison and a church.

As part of prisoner care, the prisoners of the workhouse attended the Protestant church services once the institution was opened; however, they were strictly separated from the congregation. While guards watched over the prisoner as they entered the church separately via the roll-call area, the congregation used the south entrance. Seating was also subject to strict rules. There was an "institutional area" on the one side of the church and rows of seating for the members of the congregation on the other to the right and in front of the organ. When male prisoners in protective custody were brought to the institution in June 1933, they also had to attend the church services. The attendance of these prisoners, who clearly bore the signs of abuse and imprisonment in concentration camps, served both as a warning and humiliation tactic. Their presence was meant to serve as a deterrent for the congregation. At the same time, being forced to attend a Christian church service was particularly humiliating for the atheist communists and Jews amongst the prisoners.

Choir room "Klosterkirche Sankt Maria, Benediktinerkloster Breitenau" prior to 1920 (Bildarchiv Foto Marburg, fm7063)