- Riddagshausen Abbey
Riddagshausen Abbey (Kloster Riddagshausen) was a
Cistercian monastery just outside the city of Brunswick inGermany .It was founded as Marienzelle by Ludolf the Wend, a "
ministerialis " ofHenry the Lion and steward of Brunswick, and settled in 1145 by monks fromAmelungsborn Abbey . Henry endowed the new foundation in 1146 with the neighbouring village of Riddagshausen, from which it took its name.The abbey early acquired "
reichsunmittelbar " status as anImperial abbey .It was mediatised in 1569 by
Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel , when it became aProtestant establishment. From 1690 it was also the home of a prestigiousLutheran seminary for training of preachers, the first in Germany. The religious community and the seminary were dissolved in 1809. [ The seminary was however refounded in 1837 and after a century in various premises inWolfenbüttel and closure because ofWorld War II , was eventually re-established in Brunswick in 1952, although in the town's former Franciscan friary, not in Riddagshausen Abbey.]The site, now included within the city of Brunswick, is now mostly a [http://www.bund-bs.de/riddagshausen/riddagshausen.htm nature reserve] and [http://www.tu-bs.de/~y0003276/arboretum_bs.html arboretum] .
The surviving buildings include the [http://www.klosterkirche-riddagshausen.de/ abbey church] and the gate house, now home of the [http://www.braunschweig.de/kultur/museen/zisterziensermuseum.html Cistercian Museum]
Notes
References
* [http://www.riddagshausen.de Riddagshausen: local history and photo gallery]
* [http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/statue/1287/laender/Nieders/Braunschw/aussen/riddagsh.htm Riddagshausen Abbey photo gallery]
* [http://www.ev-zist.de/riddagshausen.htm Riddagshausen Abbey photos]
* [http://www.predigerseminar.predigerseminar-braunschweig.de/html/body_geschichte.html Theological seminary formerly in Riddagshausen Abbey]
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