St. Catherine Monastery (Tallinn)
The Sankt Katharinen Monastery ( Estonian Püha Katariina klooster ) is a former Dominican monastery in the Estonian capital Tallinn ( German Reval ).
location
It is located in the historic old town of Reval between Rußstrasse (Estonian: Vene ) in the west and Mauerstrasse ( Müürivahe ) in the east, north of the Katharinengang ( Katariina kaik ).
Architecture and history
The monastery was founded by Dominicans in 1246. A monastery complex was created from several buildings. The three-aisled Katharinenkirche was built as a hall church with a length of 60.94 meters and a width of 18.46 meters. It was the most spacious church in Reval. There was a school and a library in the monastery. As languages were German and Estonian spoken. The monastery advocated the right of the city of Reval to maintain its own school in relation to church authorities. The monastery was closely intertwined with the ruling classes of society. Man days were carried out by the knights in the monastery. The monastery has repeatedly received bequests and foundations from the council, the Great Guild and the Blackheads . They also set up altars in the church of the monastery and buried relatives.
On September 14, 1524, in the course of the emerging Reformation, there was an iconoclasm in the monastery, in which important works of art and science were destroyed. Only the Blackheads had previously managed to bring their altar to safety. He then stood in the House of the Blackheads for a long time . The city council of Reval expelled the monks from the city in January 1525 and the church went to the Estonian community.
In 1531 parts of the monastery complex were destroyed in a fire. The rest of the complex fell into disrepair and later served as an ammunition store and accommodation for beggars . The church was sold to private customers and the structure was changed considerably through various renovations and used as a warehouse. Ultimately, the remains of the monastery church from the end of the 14th century and parts of the enclosure, such as the dormitory , library, refectory and parts of the cloister, were preserved. On the south wall of the monastery facing the Katharinengang there are several grave slabs that were moved here from the church.
From 1799, the refectory served as a place of worship for the predominantly Polish Catholic community. In the 1840s it was replaced by the current neo-classical Church of St. Peter and Paul , the cathedral of the Apostolic Administration of Estonia .
In the 1950s, extensive restorations took place at the instigation of the Estonian SSR Monument Protection Agency .
The remaining convent buildings that have been preserved are now used by a research institute.
literature
- Thorsten Altheide, Heli Rahkema: CityTrip Tallinn (= CityTrip series ). 4., rework. and completely updated. Edition Reise Know-How Verlag Peter Rump, Bielefeld 2016, ISBN 978-3-8317-2815-2 , p. 19
- Arved von Taube , Reval / Tallinn , Walter Rau Verlag Düsseldorf and Kempen / Allgäu 1979, ISBN 3-7919-0187-7 , page 38 f.
Web links
- Dominican monastery. In: visitestonia.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Valeri Sepp, Tallinn History of an Unusual City , Felistella, Estonia 2013, ISBN 978-9949-9264-8-0 , page 44
Coordinates: 59 ° 26 '16 " N , 24 ° 44' 54.1" E