Eldena Abbey

The origins of the monastery date back to the 12th century, when the Danish Cistercian monastery Esrom founded a daughter monastery in Dargun in 1172. After its destruction in 1198, Prince Jaromar I of Rügen offered the monks a new settlement at the mouth of the Hilda River, today's Ryck, in 1199. The Hilda Monastery, later called Eldena, was confirmed by Pope Innocent III in 1204 and endowed with extensive lands by the Rügen princes. In the 13th century, Eldena was the origin of the settlement of the later city of Greifswald, to which the monastery granted market rights in 1241. The construction of the monastery buildings spanned four centuries, with the monastery church and cloister buildings being built in stages. After the Reformation, the monastery was secularized in 1535 and converted into a ducal office. Severely damaged during the Thirty Years' War, the complex fell into disrepair during the Swedish occupation and served as a quarry.