Germany: Saxony monastery gears up to house hundreds of refugees

Refugees began to be housed in the former Blankenburg Monastery in Lower Saxony, Tuesday, as the local council gears up to host up to 600 refugees in the historic building. Lower Saxony admission authorities rented the facilities from November 1 and have been developing the site to house migrants since. Some 45 refugees from ten different countries are already accommodated in the new buildings around the monastery, with more to come. The refugees are set to stay in the facilities for between two and eight weeks, while waiting for further information regarding their asylum applications. The monastery, founded at the end of the Thirteenth Century, has been used to host refugees several times between 1990 and 2011. The main building, a brewery built in 1623 and a second church built in 1868, are under protection.