Roskilde Abbey occupies one of the oldest monastic sites in Roskilde, in the southern part of the old town near the Old Church of Our Lady. The original Benedictine nunnery was dissolved during the Danish Reformation in 1536, but the buildings were repurposed rather than demolished — an unusual fate that left much of the medieval structure intact.
After the Reformation the site operated as a residence for unmarried noblewomen, a function it maintained until the 19th century. The buildings that survive include medieval sections integrated with later additions from the 17th and 18th centuries. The complex is now a museum that tells the story of both the medieval convent and the peculiar post-Reformation institution that succeeded it. It's one of the more interesting historical backwaters in Roskilde, and less visited than the main cathedral quarter.