Himmelpforten

Himmelpforten
Evangelical Lutheran St. Mary's Church
Coat of arms
Himmelpforten
Location of Himmelpforten within Stade district
Coordinates: 53°37′N 9°18′E / 53.617°N 9.300°E / 53.617; 9.300Coordinates: 53°37′N 9°18′E / 53.617°N 9.300°E / 53.617; 9.300
Country	Germany
State	Lower Saxony
District	Stade
Municipal assoc.	Oldendorf-Himmelpforten
Government
• Mayor	Lothar Wille (SPD)
Area
• Total	18.29 km2 (7.06 sq mi)
Elevation	6 m (20 ft)
Population (2015-12-31)
• Total	5,127
• Density	280/km2 (730/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	21709
Dialling codes	04144
Vehicle registration	STD
Website	www.himmelpforten.de

Himmelpforten (Low Saxon: Himmelpoorten) is a municipality west of Hamburg (Germany) in the district of Stade in Lower Saxony. It is located on the Horsterbeck () creek. Himmelpforten is also part and the seat of the Samtgemeinde ("collective municipality") Oldendorf-Himmelpforten.

Himmelpforten belonged to the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen. The families von Brobergen and von Haseldorf had donated a Cistercian nunnery in Rahden () near Lamstedt. In 1255 it moved to Himmelpforten, then named Eulsete. The Himmelpforten Convent used to be called in Latin: Porta Coeli (heaven's gate), which became the place's name Himmelpoorten (in Low Saxon) or Himmelpforten (in High German) respectively. The church of the nunnery was also used as a parish church. The nuns elected a provost, first mentioned in 1255 (a certain Albert), who had the privilege to nominate priests to the churches in the Himmelpforten parish, to wit the churches in Himmelpforten itself, in Großenwörden, Hechthausen and in Horst upon Oste ().

Nunneries had traditionally been institutions to provide unmarried daughters of the better off, who couldn't be provided a husband befitting their social status or who didn't want to marry, with a decent livelihood. So when an unmarried woman of that status joined a nunnery she would bestow earning assets (real estate) or – restricted to her lifetime – regular revenues paid by her male relatives, on the nunnery, making up in the former case part of the nunnery's estates.