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Germany 2017 - Maulbronn Monastery (German: Kloster Maulbronn) is a former Roman Catholic Cistercian Abbey and Protestant seminary located at Maulbronn in the German state of Baden-Württemberg.[2] The 850 year old, mostly Romanesque monastery complex, one of the best preserved examples of its kind in Europe,[3] is one of the very first buildings in Germany to use the Gothic style.[4] In 1993, the abbey was declared a UNESCO World Heritage The complex, surrounded by turreted walls and a tower gate, today houses the Maulbronn
Under the auspices of the abbot Bernard of Clairvaux, the Cistercians began major expansion into southern Germany. A knight named Walter von Lomersheim became very enthused in the spread of this order of monks and donated a stretch of land between to the Cistercian order. So it was that, in 1147, the monastery was founded by 12 monks who traveled from Alsace.[2] The main church, built in a style transitional from Romanesque to Gothic, was consecrated in 1178 by Arnold, Bishop of Speyer. A number of other buildings — infirmary, refectory, cellar, auditorium, porch, south cloister, hall, another refectory, forge, inn, cooperage, mill, and chapel — followed in the course of the 13th century. The west, east and north cloisters date back to the 14th century, as do most fortifications and the fountain house or lavatorium.
After the Reformation began in the year 1517, Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg, seized the monastery in 1504,[dubious – discuss] later building his hunting lodge and stables there. The monastery was pillaged repeatedly: first by the knights under Franz von Sickingen in 1519, then again during the German Peasants' War six years later. In 1534, Duke Ulrich secularised the monastery, but the Cistercians regained control — and Imperial recognition — under Charles V's Augsburg Interim. In 1556, Christoph, Duke of Württemberg, built a Protestant seminary, with Valentin Vannius becoming the first abbot two years later, odd, because the Reformation banned religious orders and abbots; Johannes Kepler studied there 1586–89.
In 1630, the abbey was returned to the Cistercians by force of arms, with Christoph Schaller von Sennheim becoming abbot. This restoration was short-lived, however, as Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden forced the monks to leave again two years later, with a Protestant abbot returning in 1633; the seminary reopened the following year, however the Cistercians under Schaller also returned in 1634. Under the Peace of Westphalia, in 1648, the confession of the monastery was settled in favour of Protestantism; with abbot Buchinger withdrawing in process. A Protestant abbacy was re-established in 1651, with the seminary reopening five years later. In 1692, the seminarians were removed to safety when Ezéchiel du Mas, Comte de Mélac, torched the school, which remained closed for a decade.
The monastery was secularised by Frederick I, King of Württemberg, in the course of the German Mediatisation in 1807, forever removing its political quasi-independence; the seminary merged with that of Bebenhausen the following year, now known as the Evangelical Seminaries of Maulbronn and Blaubeuren.
The monastery, which features prominently in Hermann Hesse's novel Beneath the Wheel, was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1993. The justification for the inscription was as follows: "The Maulbronn complex is the most complete survival of a Cistercian monastic establishment in Europe, in particular because of the survival of its extensive water-management system of reservoirs and channels". Hesse himself attended the seminary before fleeing in 1891 after a suicide attempt, and a failed attempt to save Hesse from his personal religious crisis by a well-known theologian and faith healer.[6]
To represent Baden-Württemberg, an image of the Abbey appears on the obverse of the German 2013 €2 commemorative coin.
Germany 2017 - Maulbronn Monastery (German: Kloster Maulbronn) is a former Roman Catholic Cistercian Abbey and Protestant seminary located at Maulbronn in the German state of Baden-Württemberg.[2] The 850 year old, mostly Romanesque monastery complex, one of the best preserved examples of its kind in Europe,[3] is one of the very first buildings in Germany to use the Gothic style.[4] In 1993, the abbey was declared a UNESCO World Heritage The complex, surrounded by turreted walls and a tower gate, today houses the Maulbronn
Under the auspices of the abbot Bernard of Clairvaux, the Cistercians began major expansion into southern Germany. A knight named Walter von Lomersheim became very enthused in the spread of this order of monks and donated a stretch of land between to the Cistercian order. So it was that, in 1147, the monastery was founded by 12 monks who traveled from Alsace.[2] The main church, built in a style transitional from Romanesque to Gothic, was consecrated in 1178 by Arnold, Bishop of Speyer. A number of other buildings — infirmary, refectory, cellar, auditorium, porch, south cloister, hall, another refectory, forge, inn, cooperage, mill, and chapel — followed in the course of the 13th century. The west, east and north cloisters date back to the 14th century, as do most fortifications and the fountain house or lavatorium.
After the Reformation began in the year 1517, Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg, seized the monastery in 1504,[dubious – discuss] later building his hunting lodge and stables there. The monastery was pillaged repeatedly: first by the knights under Franz von Sickingen in 1519, then again during the German Peasants' War six years later. In 1534, Duke Ulrich secularised the monastery, but the Cistercians regained control — and Imperial recognition — under Charles V's Augsburg Interim. In 1556, Christoph, Duke of Württemberg, built a Protestant seminary, with Valentin Vannius becoming the first abbot two years later, odd, because the Reformation banned religious orders and abbots; Johannes Kepler studied there 1586–89.
In 1630, the abbey was returned to the Cistercians by force of arms, with Christoph Schaller von Sennheim becoming abbot. This restoration was short-lived, however, as Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden forced the monks to leave again two years later, with a Protestant abbot returning in 1633; the seminary reopened the following year, however the Cistercians under Schaller also returned in 1634. Under the Peace of Westphalia, in 1648, the confession of the monastery was settled in favour of Protestantism; with abbot Buchinger withdrawing in process. A Protestant abbacy was re-established in 1651, with the seminary reopening five years later. In 1692, the seminarians were removed to safety when Ezéchiel du Mas, Comte de Mélac, torched the school, which remained closed for a decade.
The monastery was secularised by Frederick I, King of Württemberg, in the course of the German Mediatisation in 1807, forever removing its political quasi-independence; the seminary merged with that of Bebenhausen the following year, now known as the Evangelical Seminaries of Maulbronn and Blaubeuren.
The monastery, which features prominently in Hermann Hesse's novel Beneath the Wheel, was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1993. The justification for the inscription was as follows: "The Maulbronn complex is the most complete survival of a Cistercian monastic establishment in Europe, in particular because of the survival of its extensive water-management system of reservoirs and channels". Hesse himself attended the seminary before fleeing in 1891 after a suicide attempt, and a failed attempt to save Hesse from his personal religious crisis by a well-known theologian and faith healer.[6]
To represent Baden-Württemberg, an image of the Abbey appears on the obverse of the German 2013 €2 commemorative coin.
Construction started in 1501 and took about a century. An example of the Manueline style of architecture, it merges the Gothic and Renaissance styles.
The Monastery is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
of St. John the Baptist church in Jasov, south Slovakia.
This is the biggest monastery complex in Slovakia and the St John The Baptist church, which forms its centrepiece, is considered one of the country's most important late-Baroque buildings.
Though the present complex dates unquestionably from the 18th century, there has been a monastery here since 1170. The first, probably made of wood, was destroyed by the invading Tatars in 1242. A Romanesque stone monastery soon replaced it and was rebuilt in a fortified style in the 15th century. The site was then completely levelled again in the 18th century to make way for the present Baroque structure.
Arankele Monastery’s sylvan environment and ruins of bathing ponds gives the impression it was once a pleasure park. Arankele, on the contrary, was a 6th century cave hermitage up a forested hillside. The densely wooded terrain crowded with huge hardwood trees are interspersed by the openings and clearings created by the on-going process of clearing scattered debris to unearth the ruins and re erecting the fallen ruins.
Monastery is a medieval monastery and is one of the famous painted monasteries from southern Bukovina, in Suceava County. Monastery was constructed by Stephen the Great in 1488 over a period of 3 months and 3 weeks to commemorate the victory at Battle of Vaslui. Often known as the "Sistine Chapel of the East", the frescoes at Voroneț feature an intense shade of blue known in Romania as "Voroneț blue
The monumental facade of Ad Deir after sunrise. A bedouin man with three donkeys hiked up to the monastery delivering goods to the nearby buffet.
Arankele Monastery’s sylvan environment and ruins of bathing ponds gives the impression it was once a pleasure park. Arankele, on the contrary, was a 6th century cave hermitage up a forested hillside. The densely wooded terrain crowded with huge hardwood trees are interspersed by the openings and clearings created by the on-going process of clearing scattered debris to unearth the ruins and re erecting the fallen ruins.
The UNESCO World Heritage Site of the monasteries of Meteora have been on my bucket list for years, and we made it!
A long 3 hours drive from Thessaloniki brought us to this magical place with several ancient monasteries perched precipitously on rock columns.
Aug. 9, 2010.
Pocajivskaja Monastery. Second largest Orthodox Monastery in the Ukraine, (Moscow Patriarchy).
St. Bernard de Clairvaux Church, also known as the Ancient Spanish Monastery, was originally built between 1133 and 1141 in Segovia, Spain. The monastery was illegally purchased by William Randolph Hearst in 1926, who brought most of the structure to Brooklyn, piece by piece. The pieces sat in a warehouse for many years before being reassembled in its current location.
Ancient Spanish Monastery. Miami, Florida.
Kvatakhevi is a medieval Georgian Orthodox monastery in Shida Kartli, Georgia.
It dates to the 12th-13th century. The building has two portals, one to the south and one to the west. The façades are covered with finely hewn white stone squares. Historically, Kvatakhevi was also a literary center where several manuscripts were copied. It also possessed a treasure with many artifacts of medieval Georgian jewelry.
The monastery was significantly damaged during Timur's invasions of Georgia in the 14th century, but was subsequently repaired, more completely under the patronage of Prince Ivane Tarkhan-Mouravi in 1854. A belfry was added in 1872.
Amarbayasgalant Monastery is one of the three largest Buddhist monastic centers in Mongolia. The monastery complex is located in the Iven Valley near the Selenge River, at the foot of Mount Büren-Khaan in Baruunbüren sum (district) of Selenge Province in northern Mongolia. The nearest town is Erdenet which is about 60 km to the southwest.
Amarbayasgalant was one of the very few monasteries to have partly escaped destruction during the Stalinist purges of 1937, after which only the buildings of the central section remained. Many of the monks were executed by the country's Communist regime and the monastery's artifacts, including thangkas, statues, and manuscripts were looted, although some were hidden until more fortunate times.
Today, only 28 temples remain. Restoration work began in 1988 with funds provided by UNESCO and private sources and some of the new statuary was commissioned in New Delhi, India.
Texture by www.flickr.com/photos/27805557@N08/4086088933/
Textures Only ~ Competition #69
Original image by FreeCat
The photo of the religious is the:
The Monastery of the Annunciation, commonly known as the Evangelistria Monastery, is a monastery dedicated to the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary which sits on a hillside 4 km north of Skiathos Town.
Although some buildings are ruined, the church and accommodation buildings have been restored.
The monastery was founded in 1794 by a group of Kollyvades monks, who had left the monastery of Mount Athos after disagreements about matters of Christian ritual. They were led by an ordained monk, Niphon of Chios, and included Gregorios Hatzistamatis, a local monk who had inherited land on Skiathos from his father.
In 1807, a group of Greek freedom fighters met at the monastery and swore the Oath of Freedom on a newly designed Greek flag, a white cross on a sky blue background, which was woven on a loom at the site.
The Catholicon of the monastery is a Byzantine-style cross-in-square three-aisled church, with three domes, and stands at the centre of the complex. The iconastasis is carved wood and bears icons dating from the 17th and 18th centuries.
A museum displays ecclesiastical artefacts and the loom on which the first Greek flag was made.
Today the monastery is served by only four resident monks, three others reside elsewhere.
A regular public minibus service operates from Skiathos Town bus terminus.
Labrang Monastery (Tibetan: བླ་བྲང་བཀྲ་ཤིས་འཁྱིལ་, Wylie: bla-brang bkra-shis-'khyil) is one of the six great monasteries of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. Its formal name is Genden Shédrup Dargyé Trashi Gyésu khyilwé Ling (Tibetan: དགེ་ལྡན་བཤད་སྒྲུབ་དར་རྒྱས་བཀྲ་ཤིས་གྱས་སུ་འཁྱིལ་བའི་གླིང༌།, Wylie: dge ldan bshad sgrub dar rgyas bkra shis gyas su 'khyil ba'i gling).
Labrang is located in Xiahe County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu, in the traditional Tibetan area of Amdo. Labrang Monastery is home to the largest number of monks outside the Tibet Autonomous Region. Xiahe is about four hours by car from the provincial capital Lanzhou.
In the early part of the 20th century, Labrang was by far the largest and most influential monastery in Amdo. It is located on the Daxia River, a tributary of the Yellow River.
The monastery was founded in 1709 by the first Jamyang Zhépa, Ngawang Tsöndrü.It is Tibetan Buddhism's most important monastery town outside the Tibetan Autonomous Region.
Labrang Monastery is situated at the strategic intersection of two major Asian cultures—Tibetan and Mongolian — and was one of the largest Buddhist monastic universities. In the early 20th century, it housed several thousand monks. Labrang was also a gathering point for numerous annual religious festivals and was the seat of a Tibetan power base that strove to maintain regional autonomy through the shifting alliances and bloody conflicts that took place between 1700 and 1950.[5]
In April 1985 the Assembly Hall burned down. It was replaced and the new building was consecrated in 1990
The monastery complex dominates the western part of the village. The white walls and gilded roofs feature a blend of Tibetan and Indian Vihara architectural styles. The monastery contains 18 halls, six institutes of learning, a gilded stupa, a sutra debate area, and houses nearly 60,000 sutras.
At its height the monastery housed 4,000 monks. Like so many religious institutions, it suffered during the Cultural Revolution; and the monks were sent to their villages to work. After it was reopened in 1980, many of the monks returned; but the government restricted enrolment to around 1,500.[7]
It has a Buddhist museum with a large collection of Buddha statues, sutras and murals. In addition, a large amount of Tibetan language books, including books on history is available for purchase, together with medicines, calendars, music and art objects.
There used to be a great gold-painted statue of the Buddha, more than 50 feet high, which was surrounded by rows of surrounding Buddhas in niches.[8]
The monastery today is an important place for Buddhist ceremonies and activities. From January 4 to 17 and June 26, to July 15, (these dates may change according to the lunar calendar), the great Buddhist ceremony will be held with Buddha-unfolding, sutra enchanting, praying, sutra debates, etc.
20-21 февраля 2021, Неделя о Мытаре и Фарисее / 20-21 February 2021, the Sunday of the pablican and the pharisee
Geghard (Armenian: Գեղարդ, meaning "spear") is a medieval monastery in the Kotayk province of Armenia, being partially carved out of the adjacent mountain, surrounded by cliffs.
While the main chapel was built in 1215, the monastery complex was founded in the 4th century by Gregory the Illuminator at the site of a sacred spring inside a cave. The monastery had thus been originally named Ayrivank(Այրիվանք), meaning "the Monastery of the Cave". The name commonly used for the monastery today, Geghard, or more fully Geghardavank (Գեղարդավանք), meaning "the Monastery of the Spear", originates from the spear which had wounded Jesus at the Crucifixion, allegedly brought to Armenia by Apostle Jude, called here Thaddeus, and stored amongst many other relics. Now it is displayed in the Echmiadzin treasury.
The spectacular towering cliffs surrounding the monastery are part of the Azat River gorge, and are included together with the monastery in the World Heritage Site listing. Some of the churches within the monastery complex are entirely dug out of the cliff rocks, others are little more than caves, while others are elaborate structures, with both architecturally complex walled sections and rooms deep inside the cliff. The combination, together with numerous engraved and free-standing khachkars is a unique sight, being one of the most frequented tourist destinations in Armenia.
Labrang Monastery (Tibetan: བླ་བྲང་བཀྲ་ཤིས་འཁྱིལ་, Wylie: bla-brang bkra-shis-'khyil) is one of the six great monasteries of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. Its formal name is Genden Shédrup Dargyé Trashi Gyésu khyilwé Ling (Tibetan: དགེ་ལྡན་བཤད་སྒྲུབ་དར་རྒྱས་བཀྲ་ཤིས་གྱས་སུ་འཁྱིལ་བའི་གླིང༌།, Wylie: dge ldan bshad sgrub dar rgyas bkra shis gyas su 'khyil ba'i gling).
Labrang is located in Xiahe County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu, in the traditional Tibetan area of Amdo. Labrang Monastery is home to the largest number of monks outside the Tibet Autonomous Region. Xiahe is about four hours by car from the provincial capital Lanzhou.
In the early part of the 20th century, Labrang was by far the largest and most influential monastery in Amdo. It is located on the Daxia River, a tributary of the Yellow River.
The monastery was founded in 1709 by the first Jamyang Zhépa, Ngawang Tsöndrü.It is Tibetan Buddhism's most important monastery town outside the Tibetan Autonomous Region.
Labrang Monastery is situated at the strategic intersection of two major Asian cultures—Tibetan and Mongolian — and was one of the largest Buddhist monastic universities. In the early 20th century, it housed several thousand monks. Labrang was also a gathering point for numerous annual religious festivals and was the seat of a Tibetan power base that strove to maintain regional autonomy through the shifting alliances and bloody conflicts that took place between 1700 and 1950.[5]
In April 1985 the Assembly Hall burned down. It was replaced and the new building was consecrated in 1990
The monastery complex dominates the western part of the village. The white walls and gilded roofs feature a blend of Tibetan and Indian Vihara architectural styles. The monastery contains 18 halls, six institutes of learning, a gilded stupa, a sutra debate area, and houses nearly 60,000 sutras.
At its height the monastery housed 4,000 monks. Like so many religious institutions, it suffered during the Cultural Revolution; and the monks were sent to their villages to work. After it was reopened in 1980, many of the monks returned; but the government restricted enrolment to around 1,500.[7]
It has a Buddhist museum with a large collection of Buddha statues, sutras and murals. In addition, a large amount of Tibetan language books, including books on history is available for purchase, together with medicines, calendars, music and art objects.
There used to be a great gold-painted statue of the Buddha, more than 50 feet high, which was surrounded by rows of surrounding Buddhas in niches.[8]
The monastery today is an important place for Buddhist ceremonies and activities. From January 4 to 17 and June 26, to July 15, (these dates may change according to the lunar calendar), the great Buddhist ceremony will be held with Buddha-unfolding, sutra enchanting, praying, sutra debates, etc.