Kloster Wienhausen

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Kloster Wienhausen
Kloster Wienhausen

Convent Wienhausen (German: Kloster Wienhausen) near Wietze in Lower Saxony, Germany is a convent that dates from the thirteenth century. It was formerly Cistercian and now is Evangelical Lutheran. The convent owns significant historic art and artifacts including a collection of tapestries and the earliest surviving example of a type of eyeglasses.

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[edit] Architecture

Most of the historic buildings are well-preserved. East of the church are a water mill and the farm building. Directly North of and lying perpendicular to the church are the convent buildings: one of them dating back to the Middle Ages to the West, the younger, post-Reformation half-timbered building to the East. Leading through a passage between the convent buildings is a two-storey Brick Gothic cross-coat.

The church consists of a Romanesque archdeaconry church, the original tower of which was torn down following traditional Cistercian rules when the convent first opened, and a Gothic minster built onto the West side of the church, which includes a nun's choir on the upper floor and a sanctuary (Pilgersaal) on the first floor. The two parts of the building are today separated by a wooden wall and are being used independently.

Completed in the 14th century, the nun's choir is remarkable among Gothic worship spaces for its intricate decorations. The ceiling and walls are fully covered with biblical images and ornaments. Portrayed are e.g. the Genesis and the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, as well as his reign in New Jerusalem. Several artifacts were discovered during a 1953 renovation including the world's oldest preserved rivet spectacles which date back to the 14th and 15th century.[1][2]

The convent is notable for its collection of Gothic tapestry from the 14th and 15th centuries. Each year following Pentecost, the tapestries are on public display. Images include both Christian and secular themes, e.g. the legend of Tristan and Iseult, several saint stories (Thomas, Anne and Elizabeth), as well as the Mirror of Human Salvation. The art treasures are maintained by the convent nuns.[3]

[edit] History

The convent was founded circa 1230 AD by Agnes von Landsberg, 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the town of Celle in Wienhausen, on the bank of Aller river. According to the Wienhausen town chronicles, there had been another convent several kilometers from that location, which was relocated because it was built on marshland.

In 1233 the foundation of the convent was officially confirmed by Konrad II of Riesenberg, bishop of Hildesheim. in Wienhausen, and the archdeaconry church alongside its entire demesne and the tithe from several surrounding villages was transferred to his authority. The nuns lived according to Cistercian rules.[3]

In the 16th century, Duke Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg effected the Reformation in his duchy. Against the opposition of the nuns and abbess Katharina von Hoya, the cloister was transformed into a Lutheran Protestant convent. In 1587, the first Protestant abbess was installed, after the resistance of the nuns had been broken with the demolition of the collegiate church and most of the chapels and the confiscation of the church property. The destroyed buildings were rebuilt 19 years later as half-timbered constructions.

Today, alongside several other convents in the area, this convent is under the administration of the Klosterkammer of Hannover, a division of the Lower Saxony Administration of Science and Culture.[4]

[edit] Images

[edit] List of abbesses of the convent

Horst Appuhn compiled the following list in Chronik und Totenbuch des Klosters Wienhausen.[5]

name from until
Eveza 1230 1241
Benigna 1241 1243
Margaretha I. 1243 1245
Elisabeth I. von Wenden 1245 1270
Elisabeth II. 1270 1286
Gerburg 1286 1295
Germod 1295 1301
Margaretha II. von Schöningen 1301 1318
Margaretha III. Bock 1318 1319
Luthgard I. 1319 1325
Margaretha IV. 1325 1328
Luthgard II. von Braunschweig 1328 1338
Jutta von Braunschweig 1338 1343
Luthgard III. von Delmenhorst 1343 1359
Elisabeth III. von Braunschweig 1359 1386
Mechthild von Sachsen 1386 1405
Olgard von Marenholz 1405 1422
Katharina von Hoya 1422 1469
Susanna Poltstock 1470 1501
Katharina II. von Remstede 1501 1549
Dorothea Spörken 1549 1565
Anna von Langeln 1565 1587
Katharina von Langeln 1587 1609
Christina Havekost 1609 1644
Anna von Hohnhorst 1644 1670
Margaretha Walters 1670 1679
Anna Katharina von Wehlse 1679 1685
Anna Engel Maria von Garmsen 1685 1723
Anna Maria von Honhorst 1723 1755
Maria Anna Christiana von der Wense 1756 1767
Sophia Charlotte von Hohnhorst 1767 1788
Margarete Dorothee von Taube 1788 1793
Marie Veronica von Pufendorf 1793 1816
Margarete Dorothee Luise von Vogt 1816 1820
Justine Frederike Werner 1821 1825
Luise Sophie Juliane Eleonore Ritmeier 1825 1865
Wilhelmine Fischer 1865 1881
Jenny Kern 1881 1920
Marie Deneke 1920 1926
Maria Brandis 1927 1934
Bertha Mühry 1934 1950
Luise Fredrichs 1951 1978
Ruth Eckhardt 1978 1982
Hedwig Thierfelder 1982 1989
Mechtild von Döhren 1990 1998
Renate von Randow 1998

[edit] References

  1. ^ Koster Wienhausen: Major Center for Culture and Religion - Home of the World’s Earliest Eyeglasses
  2. ^ Rivet Spectacles - The Wienhausen find
  3. ^ a b Monastic Matrix, University of Southern California,[1] accessed 20 April 2008.
  4. ^ Homepage of the Klosterkammer Hannover (German)
  5. ^ Appuhn, Horst (1986). Chronik und Totenbuch des Klosters Wienhausen. Schweiger & Pick. ISBN 3980131661. 

[edit] Literature

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 52°34′50.66″N 10°11′6.1″E / 52.5807389, 10.185028

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