Public Evening Lecture by Dipl.-Ing. Jens Amelung (State Office for Culture and Historic Preservation of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)
With the secularization that followed the Evangelical-Lutheran Reformation in the 16th and 17th centuries, monasteries and abbeys were largely dissolved, including those in the region that is now Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. In many cases, the buildings of these often extensive monastic complexes were demolished in the years following the Reformation or even later; they were used as quarries, repurposed, or their walls were incorporated into later structures. In the case of the Franciscan monastery in Greifswald, for example, its buildings and grounds continued to be used at first but were later largely demolished, including the church in 1790–95. Other complexes were repurposed for municipal use, as in the case of the Franciscan and Dominican monasteries in Stralsund, whose buildings have largely survived to this day and are used for cultural purposes.
In some cases, they took on new significance as ducal offices, as in the case of the Cistercian monastery in Doberan; became repositories of sacred artworks, such as the cathedral there; into noble foundations, such as the former Benedictine monastery in Dobbertin, or were romanticized in 19th-century landscape painting, such as the Gothic church ruins of the Cistercian monastery in Eldena near Greifswald.
Using selected examples, this lecture will explore the diverse histories of monastic complexes in Mecklenburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern following the Reformation and highlight their secular and cultural uses up to the present day.
At the same time, new monasteries were being founded in other parts of the world. To mark the 800th anniversary of the death of Francis of Assisi, an impressive example of this will be presented as a surprise element in the lecture.
Jens Amelung studied urban planning at the Weimar University of Architecture and Civil Engineering from 1982 to 1987 and supplemented his education with studies in historic preservation at the Technical University of Dresden. After working as an architect in Dresden and Lima, he served as regional historic preservation officer in Potsdam from 1990 to 1995. Since 1995, he has worked at the State Office for Culture and Historic Preservation of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, initially as a conservator for religious buildings and, since 2024, as regional conservator for Vorpommern-Rügen. Since 2014, he has been chairman of the “Dorfkirchen in Not” support association.
Moderator: Dr. Gregor Ploch
Reception following the event for conference participants and registered guests
