- Pforta
Pforta, or Schulpforta, is a former Cistercian
monastery , Pforta Abbey (1137-1540), nearNaumburg on theSaale River in the German state ofSaxony-Anhalt . It is now a celebrated German publicboarding school , called Landesschule Pforta. It is coeducational and teaches around 400high school students.History
Monastery
The abbey was at first situated in Schmölln, near
Altenburg . In 1127, Count Bruno of Pleissengau founded a Benedictine monastery there and endowed it with 1,100 hides of land.Fact|date=February 2007 This foundation not being successful, onApril 23 ,1132 , BishopUdo I of Naumburg , a relative of Bruno's, replaced the Benedictines by Cistercian monks fromWalkenried Abbey . The situation here proved undesirable, and in 1137 Udo transferred the monastery to Pforta, and conferred upon it fifty hides of arable land, an important tract of forest, and two farms belonging to the diocese.The patroness of the abbey was the
Blessed Virgin Mary . The first abbot was Adalbert, from 1132 to 1152. Under the third abbot, Adetold, two daughter houses were founded under Pforta's auspices, in the Mark ofMeissen and inSilesia , and in 1163, the monasteries ofAlt-Celle andLeubus were also established in the latter province. At this period the monks numbered about eighty. In 1205, Pforta sent a colony of monks toLivonia , founding there the monastery ofDünamünde . The abbey was distinguished for its excellent system of management, and after the first 140 years of its existence its possessions had increased tenfold.At the end of the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth centuries, after a period of strife, the monastery flourished again. The last quarter of the fourteenth century witnessed, however, the gradual decline of its prosperity, and also the relaxation of monastic discipline. When Abbot Johannes IV was elected in 1515, there were forty-two monks and seven
lay brother s who later revolted against the abbot; an inspection by Duke George of Saxony reported that morality had ceased to exist in the monastery.The last abbot, Peter Schederich, was elected in 1533. When the Catholic Duke George was succeeded by his Protestant brother Henry, the monastery was suppressed on
November 9 ,1540 . [CathEncy|wstitle=Pforta]Boarding School
In 1543, Henry's son, Duke Moritz opened a national school in the abbey, [ [http://www.landesschule-pforta.de/index.php?a=en&z=intro Landesschule Pforta's English website] ] appropriating for its use the revenues of the suppressed monastery of
Memleben Abbey . At first the number of scholars was 100; in 1563 fifty more were able to be accommodated. The first rector wasJohann Gigas , renowned as a lyric poet. UnderJustinus Bertuch (1601-1626) the school attained the zenith of its prosperity. It suffered greatly during theThirty Years' War , in 1643, there being only eleven scholars. Among its pupils may be mentioned the poet,Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock and the philosopher,Johann Gottlieb Fichte . After theNapoleonic Wars ended in 1815, Pforta belonged to Prussia, and then toImperial Germany .Friedrich Nietzsche also attended Schulpforta from 1858 to 1864. [ [http://www4.hmc.edu:8001/Humanities/Beckman/Nietzsche/biography.htm NIETZSCHE'S LIFE IN OUTLINE] ]It became co-educational in 1949. [ [http://www.landesschule-pforta.de/index.php?a=en&z=history History] ] Today the school is maintained by the German state of
Saxony-Anhalt , but still supported by its own Schulpforta Foundation.Architecture
The remains of the monastery include the 13th century gothic church; it is a cross-vaulted,
colonnade dbasilica with an extraordinarily longnave , a peculiar western façade, and a late Romanesque double-navedcloister . What remains of the original building (1137-40) is in the Romanesque style, while the restoration (1251-1268) belongs to the early Gothic. Other buildings are now used as dormitories and lecture halls. There is also the "Fürstenhaus" ("prince's house"), built in 1573. Schulpforta was one of the three "Fürstenschulen" ("prince's schools") founded in 1543 by Maurice, Elector of Saxony (at that time Duke), the two others being atGrimpla and at Meissen.References
External links
*Commons|Category:Schulpforte|Pforta
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