Epigenetic reprogramming erases parental epigenomes and establishes the chromatin landscape of the new generation. However, the role of meiosis in epigenetic reprogramming has received little attention. To address this question, we use the model bryophyte Marchantia polymorpha with a life cycle that uncouples meiosis from gametogenesis. Following the haploid reproductive phase of this land plant, expression of the paternal genome is silenced in the diploid embryo by the histone modification H3K27me3. Here we show that genomic imprinting is erased during meiosis and epigenetic reprogramming is completed in post-meiotic spores with the de novo establishment of the chromatin landscape of the next generation. Hence, we demonstrate the central position of meiosis in epigenetic reprogramming, which we propose is a common feature of other sexually reproducing species.