The monastery was founded after the death of King Heinrich I (Henry the Fowler) in 936 by Siegfried of Merseburg, brother of Margrave Gero the Great, and his second wife Guthia. The first Benedictine monks were sent from Corvey (Westphalia), whose priory was Groningen. From 1247 the bishops of Halberstadt were bailiffs of the monastery, which was dissolved after the Reformation in 1550.

The monastery church of St. Vitus was consecrated in 940 by Abbot Volkmar I from Corvey, but this church does not exist anymore. From the beginning to about the middle of the 12th century, the present church was rebuilt as a Romanesque three-nave flat-roofed basilica. After the abolition of the monastery, the church fell into disrepair. As a result, in the 16th century the southern aisle and in 1606 the two choir aisles were demolished. Between 1819 and 1831 the northern aisle was removed and the originally square choir was shortened.

Facing east. Due to the demolition of the aisles the building has become a single nave church . with a very dark apse.