Roma Abbey ( sv, Roma kloster) is a ruined

Cistercian 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 ...

abbey and a crown estate in

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

on the Swedish island of

Gotland Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...

. The abbey was built in the 12th century. After the Reformation, its lands were confiscated by the Crown and subsequently turned into a crown estate. Apart from the ruined church, the estate includes a manor house built in 1733 for the crown estate, known in Swedish as ''Roma kungsgård''. The manorial

cultural landscape Cultural landscape is a term used in the fields of geography, ecology, and heritage studies, to describe a symbiosis of human activity and environment. As defined by the World Heritage Committee, it is the "cultural properties hatrepresent the co ...

with avenues and large fields surrounding the ruined church and the manor is unique on Gotland.

History

Roma Abbey is located in an area with old cultural traditions. The thing for all of Gotland was located on this strategical location on the middle of the islands, possibly as early as the Viking Age. Usually during the Middle Ages, abbeys like Roma were founded on land donated by the land-owning

aristocracy Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At t ...

, and the absence of any such group on Gotland may explain the location of the abbey. The land around the thing was common property and could therefore be used for founding an abbey. The abbey was founded in 1164 by

monks from Nydala Abbey in

Småland Småland () is a historical province () in southern Sweden. Småland borders Blekinge, Scania, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means ''Small Lands''. The Latinized fo ...

on mainland Sweden. Its name in Latin was ''Sancta Maria de Gutnalia''. Eventually the abbey grew in importance and acquired large landholdings both on Gotland and in the present-day

Baltic states The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...

. The abbey had particularly large holdings on Saaremaa island and in present-day mainland Estonia. During the Reformation, the abbey was disbanded and its lands on Gotland confiscated by the

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

Crown circa 1531 (as Gotland at the time belonged to Denmark). The abbey was converted into the seat of the Danish governor, and the buildings that no longer served any direct purpose were left to decay. After the Peace of Brömsebro in 1645, when Gotland became Swedish, it became the property of the Swedish Crown. In practice, the change of ownership meant few tangible changes for the estate. Towards the end of the 17th century, the Swedish Crown had put the land out for rent as a leasehold estate. In 1728 it befell the governor of Gotland, Johan Didrik Grönhagen. He constructed the manor house, partially using building material from the abbey. During World War II, a military airfield was established nearby and the manor house and its annexes were used by the military up until the 1990s. During this time the abbey suffered further neglect and damage. Today the abbey and the manor are owned by the National Property Board of Sweden. During summer theatre plays are staged among the ruins, a tradition that was initiated in 1989 and today attracts as many as 25,000 visitors every year, according to the organisers.

Architecture

Manor

The manor house, unique in its kind on Gotland, was modelled after the manors of the aristocracy on the mainland. Building material was taken from the ruined abbey, and a few medieval portals were incorporated in the new building.

Abbey

Although the abbey church has been ruined and neglected for several centuries, it can still be appreciated as a typical representative of Cistercian architecture. The carefully proportioned church belongs to a type of church which is today best represented by the

Abbey of Fontenay The Abbey of Fontenay is a former Cistercian abbey located in the commune of Marmagne, near Montbard, in the département of Côte-d'Or in France. It was founded by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux in 1118, and built in the Romanesque style Romane ...

in France. The church was a basilica with a single nave flanked by two

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. It was divided by a transept and instead of an apse had a straight east wall. In each of the transept arms there were two chapels. The church is characterised by a neat treatment of materials and a sobriety in the choice of decorations.

References

External links