Jaap van 't Veen's photos with the keyword: kloster

Alvastra Abbey was founded by Cistercian monks from Clairvaux in France in the year of 1143 after a donation of land from King Sverker I of Sweden. It was the first Cistercian settlement in Sweden. The monastery is one of the oldest and was the largest of the country. Alvastra Abbey flourished for nearly 400 years, but after the Swedish Lutheran reformation in the 1530s, the monastery was demolished, never to be rebuilt. Construction materials - limestone from the nearby Omberg - were used among other things for building Vadstena Castle. The ruins have been restored and preserved in several phases. Nowadays it is one of the most important cultural sights in the province of Östergötland and open for visitors.

In 1464 Jacobus Wilthingh donated his rural estate ‘Apell’ to the Order of the Holy Cross. The construction of the monastery took almost hundred years (1465 - 1561). After the reformation in the Netherlands the latest prior of the monastery of the Holy Cross Brothers became in 1594 the first Protestant clergyman. After the year of 1600 the monastery underwent many changes and some parts were demolished, but a large part of the original buildings remained. Between 1930 and 1933 the remaining parts were preserved and restored by the city of Groningen. Since 1992 it is one of ‘the top 100 Unesco monumental buildings’ in the Netherlands. It houses nowadays a museum of religious art and the history of the monastery. Monastery Ter Apel or as it is called officially: Monastery Domus Novae Lucis (Home of the New Light) has a beautiful setting in the woodlands around the village of Ter Apel. .

The Cistercian Monastery of Poblet (Monestir de Poblet) was founded in 1150. In the courtyard of the cloister is a Romanesque lavabo situated. The fountain was used by the monks in their daily ablution ritual.

The Monastery of Poblet (Monestir de Poblet) was founded in 1150. It is a Cistercian monastery and still used by a monastic community.