St Catherine's Monastery () in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

, Germany, was founded in 1253 by the

Dominicans Dominicans () also known as Quisqueyans () are an ethnic group, ethno-nationality, national people, a people of shared ancestry and culture, who have ancestral roots in the Dominican Republic. The Dominican ethnic group was born out of a fusio ...

. Today traces of its existence remain in the area of the Katharinenstraße and Katharinenklosterhof in the old town.

History

The

brick Gothic Brick Gothic (, , ) is a specific style of Gothic architecture common in Baltic region, Northeast and Central Europe especially in the regions in and around the Baltic Sea, which do not have resources of standing rock (though Glacial erratic, ...

building was Germany's second Dominican monastery after St Catherine's Monastery in Frankfurt. Its imposing church was consecrated to Saint Catherine in 1285. The monastery was extended in 1400 but was closed in 1528 as a result of the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

. The grammar school known as ''Schola Bremensis'' or ''Gymnasium Illustre'' moved into the premises and, from 1660, was served by the ''Bibliotheca Bremensis'', the extensive library which was established there. In the early 19th century, the church was the city's arsenal as can be seen from Jacob Ephraim Polzin's painting. For a short period from 1900 to 1905 it even became home to the city's historical museum with Johann Focke's collection. It was later used by local merchants as a storehouse. After suffering serious damage during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the church was demolished in 1960.

Remains

Today traces of the monastery can be found in the

multi-storey car park A multistorey car park (Commonwealth English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistorey, parking building, parking structure, parkade (Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck, or indoor parking, is a building designed fo ...

designed by Carsten Schröck in the early 1970s. In the restaurant at No. 7 Katharinenklosterhof, once known as the "Refectorium", remains of the

refectory A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monastery, monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminary, seminaries. The name ...

, cloister and the chapter room of the monastery can be seen. This history is recorded on an information plaque in the Katharinenpassage. The Katharinenpassage was built in 1984 to a design by Rosengart, Busse and partners.Information and QRpedia code
Bremen tourist board and Wikipedia, retrieved 31 January 2014

References

External links

Timothy Joseph Senior, ''Reconstructing St. Katharinen – Archival Archaeology in Action''
{{Authority control History of Bremen (city) Religious buildings and structures in Bremen (city) Monasteries in Bremen (state)

Buildings and structures completed in 1285 Churches completed in the 1280s

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