4/5 Yasser A. 1 year ago on Google
Eldena
Abbey (German: Kloster
Eldena),
originally Hilda
Abbey (German: Kloster
Hilda)
is
a
former Cistercian monastery
near
the
present
town
of Greifswald in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.
Only
ruins
survive,
which
are
well
known
as
a
frequent
subject
of Caspar
David
Friedrich's
paintings,
including
the
famous Abtei
im
Eichwald ("Abbey
in
the
Oak
Forest").
In
the
12th
century
the Baltic coast
south
of
the
island
of Rügen belonged
to
the Rani principality
of
Rügen,
which
in
its
turn
was
subject
to
the Danes.
The
Danish
Cistercian
monastery, Esrum
Abbey,
was
thus
able
to
found
a
daughter
house
in
the
area, Dargun
Abbey,
at Dargun,
west
of Demmin,
in
1172.
When
in
1198
this
monastery
was
destroyed
in
fighting
between
Denmark
and Brandenburg, Jaromar
I,
Prince
of
the
Rani,
whose
wife
was
of
the
Danish
royal
house,
offered
to
re-settle
the
monks
at
a
new
site
at
the
mouth
of
the
River Ryck,
close
to
the
boundary
between
the
territory
of
the
Princes
of
Rügen,
and
the County
of
Gützkow,
since
the
early
1120s
subordinate
to
the Duchy
of
Pomerania.
The
offer
of
the
site,
which
included
profitable salt
pans,was
accepted,
and
in
1199
Hilda
Abbey,
now
Eldena
Abbey, was
founded,
and
confirmed
by Pope
Innocent
III in
1204.
The
monastery
became
wealthy
from
the
salt
trade
and
was
very
influential
in
the
Christianisation
of Western
Pomerania.
It
also
brought
about
the
foundation
at
the
beginning
of
the
13th
century
of
the
town
of
Greifswald,
which
started
out
as
the
monastery's
trading
settlement
opposite
the
salt
pans,
near
the
point
where
the via
regia,
an
important
trade
route,
crossed
the
river.
The
east
end
of
the
abbey
church
was
built
in
about
1200,
while
the
conventual
buildings
date
from
the
mid-13th
and
14th
centuries,
all
in Brick
Gothic.
The
final
stages
of
construction
were
the
west
front
and
the
nave
of
the
church,
which
were
completed
in
the
15th
century.
