one of my most favourite destinations this past november was walkenried abbey in the harz mountains ( in the state of saxony-anhalt ). i was still kind of under the impression that merseburg had on me the day before, with the merseburg incantations re-entering my brain. and the music i had in my ears since our visit there was accompanying me all the time as we discovered the impressing remains of walkenried abbey. it was once a cistercian abbey and was founded in the year of 1127 by adelheid of lohra. it's situated in a really remote area on the southern rim of the harz, surrounded by fish ponds that were once installed by the monks and this isolation is always what i really love about abbeys and monasteries.
i know i romanticize the life of monks ( and medieval life in general ) too much, but it just really strikes a chord within me, this historic era. maybe it's a secret craving for a return to more organic and natural ways of living. i know for sure that my love for isolated places are because i'm living in a city that emphasizes social pressure ( at least i feel pressured xD ) and hectic lifestyles. and i'm working in an environment which is making me realize every day that people take things for granted too much and don't appreciate the work that is going on behind the curtains or that is put into the creation of products. and what i really continually dislike about my work is that customers have all these special desires that are blown out of proportion, like they don't want ugly things ( that are perfectly fine in quality, actually, it's only the visual component that is the biggest turn off for them ) or they want perfect things or they expect an attitude of extreme servitude when coming in and wanting to buy the object of their desire and it better don't differ from their highly overexaggerated vision. and i really, really dislike it. it's getting worse over time and makes me question human beings and their motivations a lot. especially when i compare it to all the cruel and inhuman things that are happening in our modern times now. the hypocrisy of it all really disgusts me and makes me wish to bail out of society and escape to a very isolated region or place and return to some kind of roots, to the essentials of life.
and this is why i am so enamoured with all places that are calm and surrounded by nature and that emit a certain kind of peace. and this kind of peace was again offered to me in walkenried abbey.
the double-naved cloister.
built-in gravestone.
beautiful gothic windows letting in some precious light.
cloister ceilings.
madonna with child.
normal cloister corridor leading to the archives and scriptorium.
the cloister garden.
back inside.
the museum of walkenried abbey was really informative and it explained descriptively the life of the cistercian monks and compared it to a modern enterprise which really made clear that even the monasteries had to follow guidelines and were working in an economic way that can be equated with modern structures as well.
cistercian cowls.
inside the chapter house ( which is still used as the church of walkenried village ). i loved the devotional candle holder. kind of reminds me of the crown of thorns.
fountain house. the fountain was once standing in here so the monks could wash their hands and faces before meals and cut their beards and tonsures. the original fountain got lost in the 18th century and was replaced with a fake fountain.
the cloister corridors were truly one of a kind and i haven't seen something so well-kept in gothic architecure for a long time. that's why i couldn't get enough photos of them ;)
the former abbey church, which is ruins, unfortunately. people used the material for their own houses in the village until it was forbidden.
a typical house in the region of the harz mountains. they built a lot of buildings with wood.
the church must've been really huge and it's kind of a shame that it's in ruins, actually. but it still makes for a really beautiful ruin.
and that was our little walkenried abbey adventure.
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