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Founded: ca. 1250Category: Miscellaneous historic sites in Sweden
Historical period: Consolidation (Sweden)
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The Franciscan Monastery in Enköping was built during the 1200s, probably around 1250. The founder is alleged to have been a Peter Olai from Roskilde. In a letter to the monastery from 1275 Master Palne asks to be buried there, when his wife is already buried in the monastery. For this, he promises a large sum of money, a boat and a tent as gifts to the monastery. The monastery was reconstructed several times during the Middle Ages. The single nave church was built first and enlarged later.
in 1530 Gustav Vasa of Sweden wrote a letter to the monastery, where he ordered it to operate as a hospital for poor lepers. The letter also states that the monks are not obliged to stay, but if they want to help patients they are allowed to stay. Hospital was moved later in the 1530s back to Stockholm, and the monastery's operations may have ceased completely around 1540, probably due to the Reformation.
Monastery buildings were demolished finally in the 1600s, but parts of the monastery was used still in the manufacturing of gunpowder. In the 1930s excavations revealed the remains of the monastery. Towards the end of the 1980s an extensive renovation of the park area was undertaken. The place of the monastery is marked by a large brown cross and stones.
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.