Doberan Monastery in Germany
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Doberan Monastery – former monastery of the Cistercian order in the city of Bad Doberan. The first monastery that appeared in Mecklenburg and later became a spiritual, political and economic center. The monastery church is one of the examples of brick Gothic. Before the Reformation, the monastery possessed vast lands and served as a burial place for Mecklenburg rulers. Doberan monastery – one of the monasteries built to promote and strengthen the Christian faith at the direction of Henry the Lion. The construction of this monastery was entrusted to a convention of Cistercian monks from the Amelungsborg monastery. In the 1170s. by the forces of monks and laity, a monastery was built, soon surrounded by large territories, these benefactors. However, a few years later, as a result of the outbreak of wars, the monastery was destroyed, and all its inhabitants – killed. The monastery was restored in 1186. Over the next century and a half, the monastery was again damaged by fire, and it took a long time to recover due to lack of funds. All restoration work was completed only by 1368. At the same time, the consecration of the monastery church took place. In the XIII century, the monastery became a center of pilgrimage: it kept the `` holy blood '', and in the XIV century a struggle broke out between Saxon and Slavic laity. Despite the difficulties, the monastery was actively developing. The monastery flourished in the 15th century. However, the decline soon began, the monastery and the land were transferred into the possession of the Duke's military leader Jurgen Rathenov, some buildings were destroyed, and the monastery church lost all its relics. Duke Ulrich-Mecklenburg-Gustrowski stopped the process of the fall of the monastery and, at the initiative of his wife, Duchess Elizabeth, organized repair work. The monastery survived secularization and suffered only during the Thirty Years War, when a significant part of the monastery buildings was destroyed, and the building of the monastery church was used as a warehouse. At the end of the war, most of the buildings were demolished, and the brick was used to build the Gustrow castle. During the French occupation of 1806-1813, the monastery buildings were damaged again. The monastery church was restored at the end of the 19th century by Gothilf Ludwig Mockel. The interior of the church was decorated in a neo-gothic style. However, later restoration fixed these changes.     We also recommend reading Siegfried Fountain in Germany, Worms spa Topic: Doberan Monastery in Germany. |
