Uetersen Monastery

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The Uetersen Monastery in Uetersen in Schleswig-Holstein was founded in the 13th century. The building ensemble is one of the most important cultural monuments in the Pinneberg district .

The south house (right) with the arcades of the walled up cloister

history

The Cistercian convent

In the Middle Ages there were two castles of the Knights of Barmstede near what is now the monastery area of Uetersen . The remote place was the “uterst end”, the extreme end, of their domain. In 1234 Heinrich II. Von Barmstede designated his property on the Marschrand as a spiritual foundation. He called 12 nuns of the Cistercian women from the Reinbek monastery . This is how a Cistercian monastery came into being at the “utermost end” . In 1424 the monastery with the first monastery church, which like all churches of the Cistercian order as patroness (continuously only for the male monasteries, for the Cistercian women also as a second patronage) was consecrated to the Virgin Mary and also to Saint George, was destroyed by fire. but rebuilt in 1440.

The importance of the monastery grew steadily in the following centuries through donations, foundations and acquisitions. In the best of times he owned large estates, a brick factory, a quarry, a fishery and several mills. The scattered land ownership ranged from Neumünster to Altona . Even on the other bank of the Elbe there was land in the Kehdinger Land. In addition to the Priörin as spiritual head of a regulated Probst economic (and legal) matters. 30 nuns and 30 lay sisters now belonged to the monastery.

Craftsmen and traders settled in the vicinity of this important business enterprise, which represented the monastery. The monastery became the nucleus of the Uetersen area.

The noble women's pen

In 1555, the sovereign Christian III attacked. from Denmark personally to push through the Reformation in his territory. The monasteries - like the Preetz Monastery and the St. Johannis Monastery outside Schleswig - were dissolved. The Schleswig-Holstein knighthood then converted the Uetersen monastery into an aristocratic women's monastery. This prevented the king from confiscating the property. It also enabled the former nuns to essentially maintain their pious way of life in the monastery area. The unmarried daughters of the nobility were also provided for for the future. From now on they called themselves canons or conventuals. The exam was now canceled and the conventual women had the opportunity to get married.

The monastery was still run by a noble provost, who was no longer an ecclesiastical head and mostly came from the knighthood, and a priory. Uetersen's economic development continued under the authority of the monastery. The noble women's foundation still exists today as an independent foundation. In 1996 there were seven women in the convent in addition to the priory. However, none of the women still lives in the monastery district, the conventual inner houses are rented.

Preserved buildings and systems

The house of the priory from 1644
The rococo door on the priory's house

Of the main buildings, only the southern nave with walled-up cloister arches and the attached priory house is preserved today . Today's so-called monastery church was built when the monastery had already been converted into a monastery. So it is not one of the original buildings. The baroque building was built by the builder Jasper Carstens between 1747 and 1749 and is equipped with a beautiful pulpit altar and a large ceiling painting. The monastery cemetery is located between the monastery and the church.

The south house

The monastery originally had a four-cloister with an inner courtyard. The south house, an elongated brick building, is the south wing of the former cloister quarter. It still shows the remains of the cloister, the arcades were later walled up. The west house was demolished in 1813. The resulting hole in the south house was walled up with old stones in the larger monastery format. These came from the demolition material of the west house. In the arcades, too, you can see the change from newer small bricks to those in the monastery format.

The house of the priory

The priest Margaretha Countess von Ahlefeld (1613–1681) added a gable building to the old south house. There the priory housed u. a. Kings, Landgraves and Dukes. The monasteries were obliged to accept the traveling sovereigns. The half-timbered gable shows brick patterns. The inscription in the lower gable beam reads: ANNO 1644 DEN 24. MARTI. I HAVE MARGARETA FROM ALEFELT. P. LET DISES GEBAVE BUILT. GWBMDIDSEI EW. The rococo door is also worth seeing. It is a slightly curved, double-winged skylight door from the 3rd quarter of the 18th century. Today the house of the Priörin is used as the restaurant "Die Klosterküche" and is open to visitors. The old convent hall on the first floor is available for civil weddings as a branch of the registry office.

The priory's tea house

The tea house in the priory garden

In the priory garden there is a pavilion in the shape of a Doric vestibule temple. The main part consists of plastered brick, the porch with columns and gable made of wood. The doors at the front can be opened fully.

The Jungfernfriedhof (monastery cemetery)

After the conversion into a noble women's monastery, the inner courtyard of the monastery area became the Jungfernfriedhof. There are a number of well-preserved tombs there. Many of them date from the early days of the monastery and are designed in the classical style.

Preserved graves by date:

  • Augusta Magdalena Elisabeth and Agnes Dorothea (von) Zepelin (double grave without date)
  • Unknown knight († 1485), probably from the Wisch, removed from the cemetery in 1995 and exhibited in the cloister of the monastery.
  • Catarine Alfers (1594–1658)
  • Anna Lucia von Leyel († 1693?), Priory of the Uetersen monastery
  • Metta von Schwaben (1636–1709), priory of the Uetersen monastery
  • Ida Hedwig von Brockdorff (1639–1713), priory of the Uetersen monastery
  • Olgard von Dessihn († 1716), conventual of the Uetersen monastery
  • Catharina Dorothea von Thienen ad H. Bülk (1685–1747), conventual of the Uetersen monastery
  • Anna Dorothea von Reicheln (1684–1749), conventual of the Uetersen monastery
  • Anna Emerentia von Reventlow (1680–1753), priory of the Uetersen monastery
  • Three siblings, Augusta, Magdalena Elisabeth and Agnesa Dorothea von Zepelin (Anno 176?)
  • Christa Sophia von Wedderkop († 1769), conventual of the Uetersen monastery
  • Hedewig Albertina von Rumohr (1706–1778), priory of the Uetersen monastery
  • Christa Ulrica von Dewitz (1717–1792), priory of the Uetersen monastery
  • Metta von Oberg (1737–1794), conventual of the Uetersen monastery
  • Elisabeth Benedicta von Brockdorf (1742–1800), conventual of the Uetersen monastery
  • Peter zu Rantzau (1733–1809), provost of the Uetersen monastery
  • Adelheid Dorothea von Rumohr (1737–1814), conventual of the Uetersen monastery
  • Dorothea Catharina von Ahlefeldt (1750–1814), priory of the Uetersen monastery
  • Amalie von Gollowin (1765–1831), priory of the Uetersen monastery
  • Louise of Qualen (1810–1895)
  • Charlotte von Bülow (1817–1892), together with Greta von Bülow (1820–1890)
  • Louise Emilie von Buchwaldt († 1833), priory of the Uetersen monastery
  • Juliane Caroline von Rantzau († 1864), priory of the Uetersen monastery
  • Friederike Charlotte von Buchwaldt († 1871), priory of the Uetersen monastery
  • Louise Sophie Friederike Dorothee zu Rantzau-Breitenburg (1791–1981), conventual of the Uetersen monastery
  • Georgine von Wedderkop (1872-1894)
  • Louise vom Wedderkop (1841–1911), together with Juliane von Wedderkop (1854–1928)
  • Gertrund von Bernstorff († 1911), priory of the Uetersen monastery
  • Magdalene Catharine von Rantzau (1873–1919), priory of the Uetersen Monastery, together with Lilly von Rantzau (1880–1957) and Hedwig Lange, b. von Rantzau (1875–1959)
  • Arved von Wedderkop (1873–1954), provost of the Uetersen monastery, together with Thyra geb. von Ladiges (1885–1865)
  • Anna von Bernstoff (1877–1960), conventual of the Uetersen monastery
  • Marie-Christiane zu Rantzau (1889–1964)
  • Louise Georgine von Rumohr (1877–1968), priory of the Uetersen monastery
  • Christian von Platen-Hallermund (1900–1974), provost of the Uetersen monastery, together with Ilsa-Maria geb. Kelling (1920-1995)
  • Marie-Luise Wittkop, b. Countess of Platen-Hallermund (1895–1982)
  • Ernst Günther von Luckner (1919–1993), provost of the Uetersen monastery
  • Isabell von Holck, b. Countess of Platen-Hallermund (1944–2003)
  • Bernhard F. Hooke (1919-2013)
  • Ingemarie Countess von Luckner b. Wittkop (1924-2013)
  • Ilse Countess von Bredow (1922–2014)

The conventual inner houses

Conventual interior house

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the conventual women built their own houses in the area of ​​the monastery. That allowed the monastery rules. Many of these conventual interior houses have been preserved and can be recognized by their similar basic structure: They are single-storey eaves houses with a hipped roof or a crooked roof . Above the center there is a diaphragm with a triangular gable, sometimes there is a diaphragm both on the front and on the back. The Conventual Countess Augusta Louise zu Stolberg-Stolberg lived in one of these houses . Through an exchange of letters with the young Goethe, the countess went down in literary history as Goethe's Gustchen. Goethe sent a number of important documents to his confidante in Uetersen.

The pre-work of the pen
The provost's house

The pre-work of the pen

A little to the side, in the east of the monastery area, is a single-storey half-timbered building with a half-hipped roof: the Vorwerk. (Design: Friedrich Christian Heylmann ). The court bidders who were responsible for the security of the monastery district lived here. The house originally contained apartments for three monastery servants, a coach house and horse stables as well as two prison cells.

An inscription above the gate reads: ANNO 1818 OCTOBER 12TH IS THE FIRST NAIL IN THIS MONASTERY BUILDING BY HER VESTED MERCY MRS PRIORIN AV GOLLOWIN COMTESSE AG. V. RANTZAU COMTESSE L. ZU RANTZAU BARONESSEE V. BROCKDORFF KLOSTERSYNDICUS ROST KLOSTERHOFMEISTER MATTIESSEN BUILT BY THE CARPENTER ALBERT GATGENS IN UETERSEN MASTER MASON JACOB MUHL

The provost's house

On the street Am Klosterhof there is a large white house, the official residence of the provost. It was also built by Jasper Carstens in 1734. In 1829 a renovation was carried out on behalf of Conrad Christoph von Ahlefeldt , during which the house was given today's flat hipped roof and plastered. The two-story building has a central projection three axes wide. The corners of the building are rusticated, two short, low wall wings are attached to the right and left.

Probes

Term of office in brackets

 * Existence and (or) term of office not clearly proven or no further documents available

Prioryesses

Term of office in brackets

Natural monuments

Three horse chestnuts as a group of trees in the monastery district

There are several natural monuments on the site of the monastery. These are individual trees or groups of trees that are to be rated as real peculiarities in terms of their age or other appearance. It refers to:

  • A sycamore maple ( Acer pseudoplatanus )
  • A copper beech ( Fagus sylvatica f. Purpurea )
  • A common oak ( Quercus robur )
  • A split-leaved oak ( Quercus pedunculata 'Pectinata')
  • Two ash trees ( Fraxinus excelsior 'Pendula' or hanging ash )
  • Four horse chestnuts ( Aesculus hippocastanum )

Literature and Sources

  • Johann Friedrich Camerer : Mixed historical-political news in letters from some strange areas of the duchies Schleßwig and Hollstein, their natural history and other rare antiquities (Part 2. News from the Stifte und Flecken Uetersen, pages 148-400, Continued news from the Uetersen monastery , in the second volume page 839-846 and Continued message from the spots Uetersen page 857-872). Flensburg and Leipzig 1762
  • Wilhelm Ehlers: History and folklore of the Pinneberg district page 503 (1922)
  • Elsa Plath-Langheinrich : When Goethe wrote to Uetersen, ISBN 3-529-02695-6
  • Marcus Posselt: The Schleswig-Holstein Monasteries after the Reformation (Itzehoe 1894)
  • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe : Letters to Augusta Louise zu Stolberg
  • Goethe's letters in the Holstein monastery in Uetersen ISBN 3-529-02682-4
  • Andreas Fründt - The Hochadeliche Closter zu Uetersen (1986)
  • Art-Topography Schleswig-Holstein ISBN 3-529-02627-1
  • ZSHG 93: Doris Meyn: The two castles of Uetersen (1968)
  • Uetersener news
  • Uwe Barghaan: CD-ROM Uetersen and Moorrege (1998)
  • Thomas Nissen: The Uetersen Monastery and Holsteiner Horse Breeding In: Bauernblatt Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg: Bulletin of the farmers' associations Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg, organ of the Chamber of Agriculture Schleswig-Holstein (Rendsburg: Verlag Bauernblatt für Schleswig-Holstein 57/153 (2003))
  • Elsa Plath-Langheinrich: The Monastery at the Uetersten End (2008)
  • Elsa Plath-Langheinrich : "Uetersen Monastery in Holstein. With Cistercian nuns and noble nuns through eight centuries" (Neumünster 2008)

See also

Web links

Commons : Uetersen Monastery  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 53 ° 40 ′ 53.4 "  N , 9 ° 39 ′ 25.5"  E