Verchen Monastery
The Pomeranian monastery Verchen is a former Benedictine monastery from the 13th century in Verchen in the Mecklenburg Lake District in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania . It is located on the north bank of the Kummerower See and is operated today by a Protestant convent .
history
The Sankt-Marien-Kloster Verchen was founded as a Benedictine convent at the end of the 12th century. In 1191, Bishop Sigwin von Cammin confirmed the foundation of the noble Liutizen Heinrich and Borts (Boris), sons of Rannus (Ramno). The monastery was originally located on the Klosterberg near Altentreptow , which was then called Marienberg. The donors transferred their property, which was located in the Tollense countryside, to the monastery, with the exception of the village of Klatzow. This place, probably the old seat of the donors, should have become a monastery property from 1194 onwards. In the following decades the monastery convent was moved to Klatzow. The exact time of the move is not known. In 1239 the monastery, now located in Klatzow, received the Hohenmocker Church with its income and half of the town. The villages of Loikenzin, Barkow, Buchar and Rosemarsow also came into monastic ownership. At this time, the monastery was increasingly provided by the Pomeranian dukes , the diocese of Cammin and the local nobility with possessions on the east bank of the Kummerower See . These included the villages of Klenz (Chlodonitz), Lindenhof (Käseke), Meesiger, Metschow, Trittelwitz, including the churches and chapels there. In Verchen itself, Reimar and Raven von Buch auf Konerow gave the nuns the patronage of the Katharinenkirche in 1248, and they received the village from Duke Wartislaw III in 1255 .
The monastery on Marienwerder near Verchen was established as early as 1245. The provost , who remained in Klatzow at that time, received the Verchen parish church a few years later. Marienwerder also turned out to be unsuitable for the monastery, and so a new monastery building in Verchen began in 1265. The Katharinen Church in Verchen was also consecrated to Mary and became a monastery church. The last move was completed in 1269, but the monastery buildings were not yet completed. Various letters of indulgence from this time testify to the construction of the monastery and the associated need for money. The monastery property expanded in the following decades mainly through donations. In the 14th century the monastery had four mills. Numerous churches were subject to the monastery patronage law . In the economic heyday of the monastery, the land was around 7,000 hectares. This property of the monastery was given as a fief to the local landed gentry. The extensive possessions and the location of the monastery in the border area between Pomerania and Mecklenburg also brought about conflicts. So there was a dispute with the Dargun monastery over the fishing rights on the Kummerower See and the Peene until the dissolution . The armed conflicts between Mecklenburg, Pomerania and Brandenburg also threatened the economic existence of the monastery. This also includes the feud between Bernd von Maltzahn and the Pomeranian dukes from 1478 to 1494.
The sisters of the order - probably between 15 and 20 in their prime - came mainly from the Pomeranian and Mecklenburg noble families, such as Maltzahn , Heydebreck , Voss , Wacholz , Pentz and Osten . The convent was also open to bourgeois women, but the prioress was elected from among the noble members of the convention. If she came from the nobility , like Elisabeth von Pomerania (prioress from 1494 to 1516) , she also had priority in representing the monastery to the outside world instead of the provost.
In 1534 the state parliament of Treptow an der Rega decided to keep the monastery after the Reformation decision. Duke Barnim IX. (Pomerania) nevertheless decided to secularize the monastery. Although the Verchen monastery was also intended as a breeding establishment and supply for noble virgins, a women's monastery was not set up in Verchen. In 1535 there was already an official governor.
The Benedictine nun who last entered the monastery died in 1581, and the monastery was extinguished.
building
Most of the monastery buildings were destroyed in a major fire between 1560 and 1575.
Monastery church
The former monastery church in Verchen is an early Gothic brick building. Three of the five windows with stained glass that were originally made in the Middle Ages and are among the oldest in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are still preserved. The center shrine of the altar from 1420 with an annunciation scene and the altarpiece (predella) from 1500 have also been preserved.
The church was renovated in 1858 at the instigation of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV .
In 1969, medieval frescoes were uncovered in the choir room .
More buildings
The cellar vaults of the youth hotel, built around 1700 as an office building made of bricks from the demolished monastery buildings, probably represent the floor plan of the old provost's office. The parish and parish houses are roughly in the area of two of the three wings of the convent building. Whether the old school, formerly the sexton's house, is at the site of the old monastery gate cannot be proven without archaeological investigations.
Todays use
Since 2004 there has been a convention of the Christ Brotherhood Selbitz community in Verchen monastery.
literature
- Thomas Höflich : The St. Marienkloster in Verchen in the past, present and future . In: Writings of the Friends of the District Home Museum Demmin 5: Border region between Pomerania and Mecklenburg. Lectures 2003, Thomas Helms Verlag 2005, ISBN 3-935749-53-8 , pp. 84–88.
Web links
Coordinates: 53 ° 51 ′ 4 ″ N , 12 ° 54 ′ 16 ″ E