Doberan Minster

The Doberan Minster is the main Lutheran Church of Bad Doberan in Mecklenburg, Germany. Close to the Baltic Sea and the Hanseatic city of , it is the most important religious heritage of the European Route of Brick Gothic. It is the remaining part of the Ex-Cistercian Doberan Abbey, dedicated in 1368. The first abbey in Mecklenburg, founded in 1171, which was also used as the burial site for the regional rulers, became important both politically and historically.

Through the activities of its inhabitants, the abbey greatly contributed to the cultural and economic development of Mecklenburg and became the centre of Christianity in this region. No other Cistercian abbey in Europe can lay claim to such a large amount of the original interior remaining intact. Among the treasures are the main altar which is the oldest winged altar in art history, the monumental cross altar and the sculpted tomb of Danish Queen Margarete Sambiria.
Even after the reformation and the dissolution of the abbey in 1552, the church continued to serve as the main burial place for the ruling Mecklenburg nobility as well as the place of worship for the Evangelical-Lutheran congregation.
The Minster in Bad Doberan is said to be the most important medieval building in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the best example of medieval creativity put in practice and it is a building of the highest technical and artistic perfection. The furnishings on display are of highest artistic quality. No other church in northern Germany has such complete and historically important liturgical furnishings. The mostly well preserved Cistercian furnishings are unique. The abbey is a unique and precious artistic monument in the coastal region of the Baltic Sea.

The Doberan Minster is a unique symbiosis of a high gothic cathedral building, based upon French cathedral style and elements of other Hanseatic churches as well as influence by the building code of the Cistercians. The Cistercian Order was created in 1098 in France as a reformist movement of the Benedictine Order. The ideas for living together are based on the rules of St. Benedict from the 5th century. The Cistercian order was strongly influenced by Bernard of Clairvaux who joined at the beginning of the 12th century. The basic rules of monastic life were humility, poverty and obedience. Poverty as a rule meant that no monk was allowed to hold any personal possessions and also that abbey churches were to be kept simple, without decorations or ornaments. In the early Romanesque style Cistercian churches, some of which are partially maintained, it is easy to recognize the simple, smooth forms, sparse decorations and furnishings. In around 1280, the construction of the second abbey church was begun and was consecrated in 1368. The Cistercian reform, which demanded simplicity in design and furnishing, was 200 years in the past and had little influence on the second church building. During trips to France, the monks of Doberan were inspired by the gothic churches there. They returned with new ideas and implemented them here. Also in the surrounding Hanseatic cities, churches were built in gothic style. The regional dukes influenced construction even further. Duke Pribislav of Mecklenburg was a sponsor of the monastery in Doberan and was later buried in the church. The Doberan Minster became the most important burial site for the Dukes of Mecklenburg, who donated money for its continuing development. The foundations of the Minster are set into sandy soil with integrated wedges of gravel at the meeting point of 3 creeks. The groundwater is approximately 1.5 m below ground level. The surrounding area was mostly marshland. This wasn't an ideal site for building, especially not for building a monastery with a church of such dimensions. Therefore the foundations had to be set very deep, to guarantee a safe and stable building. Contrary to other religious orders, the Cistercian monks looked for remote, difficult to access sites to establish their monasteries. Thus they made a large contribution by cultivating arable land and were well liked by the dukes. With no real stone or sandstone available, brick was used as building material. To produce bricks they mixed sand, clay and water and filled wooden forms which then dried and were baked in field ovens. It took three years to produce a brick. These bricks, the so-called abbey form, were about 30 cm long, 15 cm wide, 9.5 cm high and weighed around 8 kilograms. The cement of limestone for the brick joints was free of gypsum to prevent expansion and erosion thus guaranteeing a long life span.

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