Løgum Abbey

Løgum Abbey (Danish: "Løgum kloster"; German: "Kloster Lügum") was a Cistercian monastery in the present town of Løgumkloster in North Schleswig in Denmark.

History

Løgum Abbey was founded in 1173 by Bishop Stefan of Ribe who had previously been at Herrevad Abbey in Skåne, the first Cistercian foundation in Denmark [now in Sweden] . Løgum was in a sense a daughter house to Herrevad. The abbey was called "Locus Dei" meaning 'God's place' (Danish: "Guds sted") and consecrated to the Virgin Mary.

The new timber abbey was destroyed by a fire in 1190. Bishop Omer of Ribe encouraged monks from other monasteries to go to Løgum to rebuild the abbey and abbey church. King Valdemar II gave several farms to the abbey to provide it with steady income.

The surviving four-sided abbey complex was constructed of red bricks apparently manufactured on the site in the Gothic style. It was completed during the first decades of the 1300s and consisted of the church, and at least two wings, one for the monks and one for guests and the hospital.

The church was built as the north range of the abbey, in the form of a Latin cross with a nave and two side aisles. Chapels were added down the sides of the nave over time. The building shows the mix of Romanesque and Gothic styles. Some arches are rounded Romanesque arches, and others are the characteristic pointed arches of the Gothic style.

The abbey church and one wing of the abbey have survived to modern times.

The tower over the transept contains three bells, the oldest, preserved from the original abbey, dating from 1442, cast by an unknown bell maker. The other two bells are relatively recently cast by De Smithske in 1924 and 1925.

Notes

:"this article is based on its equivalent on the Danish Wikipedia"