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Founded: 1230-1254Category: Religious sites in Germany
Historical period: Hohenstaufen Dynasty (Germany)
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Rehna Abbey is a former Benedictine (the 13th century) and Premonstratensian nunnery (until 1552). It was founded between 1230 and 1236. In 1254 the monastery was inaugurated and this year also began the construction of the cloister between church and convent. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the monastery was one of the most important monasteries Mecklenburg. Numerous Lübeck families had their daughters educated there and funded the monastery with donations.
During the Reformation the monastery was dissolved in 1552. From 1576 to the early 18th century it belonged to Duke widows and princesses Anna Sophia of Prussia (until 1591), Sophia of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp (to 1634), Anna Sophie (until 1648) and Juliane Sibylla (to 1761). At the beginning of the 18th century, the remaining buildings were used as offices until 1819. After the Second World War, the abbey was used as a school until 1995.
The late Romanesque brick church have survived from the original monastery, however it was radically altered in the mid-15th century.
References:The Church of St Donatus name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. It is the largest Pre-Romanesque building in Croatia.
The beginning of the building of the church was placed to the second half of the 8th century, and it is supposed to have been completed in the 9th century. The Zadar bishop and diplomat Donat (8th and 9th centuries) is credited with the building of the church. He led the representations of the Dalmatian cities to Constantinople and Charles the Great, which is why this church bears slight resemblance to Charlemagne's court chapels, especially the one in Aachen, and also to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. It belongs to the Pre-Romanesque architectural period.
The circular church, formerly domed, is 27 m high and is characterised by simplicity and technical primitivism.