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The former Cistercian monastery of Our Lady in Lehnin was founded in 1180 by Margrave Otto I of Brandenburg. It was the first of its kind in the margraviate and soon gained importance. Since Otto's death, the monastery was also the burial place of the margraves of Brandenburg from the Askanian dynasty; 11 members of the family were buried here. From the mid 15th century it was the burial place of the Electors of the Hohenzollern dynasty. During the Reformation the monastery was closed in 1542 by Elector Joachim II and its possessions including 64 villages and 54 lakes in the vicinity became a property of the Elector. The tombs of the Electors Friedrich II ('the Iron'; b.1413, ruled 1415/17–1471), Johann Cicero (b.1455, ruled 1486–1499) and Joachim I (b.1484, ruled 1499–1535) were transferred to the cathedral of Berlin in 1536. During the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) the monastery was looted several times by Swedish and Imperial troops. After the war it fell into dereliction. Elector Friedrich Wilhelm (1640–1688) bought the ruins and built a hunting lodge. Crown Prince Friedrich (the later German Emperor Friedrich III) had the monastery restored between 1871 and 1878 according to historic drafts. In 1911 the complex was purchased by the Protestant church which opened it as the deaconesses mother house "Luise-Henrietten-Stift". Since World War II it is also a hospital. The municipality Kloster Lehnin was formed on the 1st of April 2002 and consists of the 13 villages Emstal, Damsdorf, Göhlsdorf, Grebs, Krahne, Lehnin, Michelsdorf, Nahmitz, Netzen, Prützke, Rädel, Reckahn and Rietz.

The monastery church [left] was begun in 1180 in Romanesque style and was finished in 1262 in Gothic style. The present church is a reconstruction built in 1871–1877.