Founded in 1111, Fontdouce Abbey is a small-scale monastery during the first decades. From the 13th century, the abbey becomes richer thanks to donations, especially the ones of Eleanor of Aquitaine. A second monastery is then built next to the first one. The of the golden age lasted until the Wars of Religion at the end of the 16th century.
The community survived until the French Revolution when Fontdouce suffered a heavy damage again. The last monks living there were deported. After the Revolution, the site was sold as a national property to ancestors of the current owners. It is then turned into a farm and modified.
Fontdouce Abbey was restored since 1970. Today the site is open to the public and contains Gothic hall, Romanesque chapels and gardens.
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.