Rostock Museum Kloster zum Heiligen Kreuz

The Abbey of the Holy Cross (german: Kloster zum Heiligen Kreuz) in

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, c ...

, Germany, was founded in the 13th century by

Cistercian nun Cistercian nuns are female members of the Cistercian Order, a religious order belonging to the Roman Catholic branch of the Catholic Church. History The first Cistercian monastery for women, Le Tart Abbey, was established at Tart-l'Abbaye in th ...

s. It is the only fully preserved abbey in the city. The complex includes the former abbey church which is used today as the University Church (''Universitätskirche''). The remaining former

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

buildings house the Museum of Cultural History (''Kulturhistorische Museum'') for the city of Rostock.

History

The

nunnery A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican C ...

was founded by the Danish Queen

Margaret Sambiria Margaret Sambiria (in Danish: ''Margrethe Sambiria'', ''Sambirsdatter'' or ''Margrethe Sprænghest''; c. 1230 – December 1282) was Queen of Denmark by marriage to King Christopher I, and regent during the minority of her son, King Eric V fro ...

in 1270. According to legend, she founded the abbey in gratitude for a miraculous rescue at sea. She made large donations to the abbey. She died in 1282 and was buried at

Doberan Abbey Doberan Abbey (''Kloster Doberan'') is a former Cistercian monastery in Bad Doberan, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. The Brick Gothic church continues in use as Doberan Minster (''Doberaner Münster''). After the conversion to Christianity of th ...

Bad Doberan Bad Doberan () is a town in the district of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It was the capital of the former district of Bad Doberan. In 2012, its population was 11,427. Geography Bad Doberan is situated just west of Rostock's city c ...

which belonged to the

Cistercian Order The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint B ...

. The abbey gained extensive estates in Rostock and also in the whole of

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label=Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin ...

as a result of donations, endowments and bequests. The nuns came mostly from wealthy families in Rostock. The nunnery was very popular and even had to place restrictions on entry in the 14th century. The abbey church was completed in 1360.

The Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

was accepted into the abbey in 1562 after just thirty years of "contemplation time" by the nuns in the convent. As a result of the Second Rostock Inheritance Agreement between the city of Rostock and the dukes of Mecklenburg in 1584 the nunnery was turned into a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

damsels' convent (German: ''Frauenstift''). The lives of its conventuals, however, hardly changed at all. The place still resembled a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

monastic order. After the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

, however, there were only nine conventuals. In the 19th century, efforts were made to transfer the estate of the nunnery to the state. But it was not until 1920, when the

Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin The Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (german: Freistaat Mecklenburg-Schwerin) was a state in the Weimar Republic that was established on 14 November 1918 following the abdication of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin following the German ...

constitution was introduced, that the state appropriated all such parastatal entities, such as women's convents. As a result, Mecklenburg-Schwerin's Lutheran church was only allowed to continue legally as an organisation independent of the state. The effect of this was that the nunnery was expropriated by the state without any compensation to the church. On 17 August 1920, the abbey was dissolved, although the remaining conventuals were allowed the right to live there for life. The last abbess died in 1981. The abbey church was renovated both outside and, later, inside from 1997 to 2002. The former convent buildings now house the Cultural History Museum of Rostock.

References

Literature

* Wolfgang Eric Wagner: ''Die Grabplatten des Klosters „Zum Heiligen Kreuz“ in Rostock.'' Redieck & Schade, Rostock 2007; . * Thomas Hill: ''Das Kloster zum Heiligen Kreuz, Margrethe Sambria und Rostocks Beziehungen zu Dänemark im 13. Jahrhundert'', in: Ortwin Pelc: ''777 Jahre Rostock. Neue Beiträge zur Stadtgeschichte'', Rostock 1995, pp. 21–30. * Sabine Pettke: ''Das Rostocker Kloster zum Heiligen Kreuz vom 16. bis zum 20. Jahrhundert : kirchen- und staatsrechtliche Auseinandersetzungen im Rahmen der mecklenburgischen Kloster- und Verfassungsfrage'' (Mitteldeutsche Forschungen, Vol. 106) Böhlau, Cologne. 1991.

External links

Universitätskirche Rostock website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abbey of the Holy Cross, Rostock

HolyCross Holycross () is a village and civil parish in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is one of 21 civil parishes in the barony of Eliogarty. The civil parish straddles two counties and the baronies of Eliogarty and of Middle Third (South Tipperary). It is ...

Rostock HolyCross

Rostock, HolyCross

Tourist attractions in Rostock