Cismar Abbey

Cismar Abbey (German: Kloster Cismar) was a Benedictine monastery located at Cismar near Grömitz, Schleswig-Holstein, in Germany.

Cismar Abbey church: the west front

History

The abbey was founded in 1238 by Count Adolf IV of Holstein as alternative accommodation for Benedictine monks from Lübeck. In the mid-15th century it was one of the six original members of the influential Bursfelde Congregation, a Benedictine reform movement. After three prosperous centuries, based largely on its possession of a relic of the blood of Christ and a healing spring dedicated to John the Baptist, which made it a centre of pilgrimage, it was dissolved in 1561 during the secularisation brought about by the Reformation. The monastic library is preserved in the Danish Royal Library in Copenhagen.[1]

The Brick Gothic abbey church is famous for its carved altar, dating from the early 14th century, still in place in the church.[1][2]

Cismar Abbey church: the altar

The other surviving buildings, after a wide variety of secular uses, now serve as a museum.[2]

References
  1. Grabowsky, Anna-Therese: Das Kloster Cismar, Karl Wachholtz Verlag Neumünster, 1982
  2. Cismar.de: local information website, including Cismar Abbey

54°11′24″N 10°59′09″E


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