Kloster Eldena
A Romantic pearl on the Baltic shore.
My first visit to the ruins Eldena dates back to April 2018, a very snowy month that year. It was Easter time, and I had just moved to Greifswald to begin my Master’s studies. Together with my brother, I set out to explore the town and its surroundings. On Easter Monday, we decided to head east. We caught bus number two, passing by rows of charming wooden houses on nearly deserted streets. About twenty minutes later, we reached our destination.
Eldena - 2nd of April 2018
Located on Germany's northeastern Baltic coast, Kloster Eldena is a beautiful brick construction dating back to the 12th century. Close to Eldena is the Danish Wiek, an old fishing village on the Baltic shore, and Greifswald Bodden (Greifswald Bay).
Kloster Eldena beautifully showcases the region’s Brick Gothic tradition (Backsteingotik), a prominent architectural style in much of Central Europe and the Baltic region from the 13th century onwards. The monastery was founded near the mouth of the River Ryck in 1199. In the 12th century, this coastal area was part of the Danish principality of Rügen, which comprised the island of Rügen and its adjacent territories. By the 1400s, the monastery had become an important economic and spiritual centre for the region. The Abbey was eventually dissolved in 1535 with the arrival of the Reformation in Pomerania.
Nowadays, the ruins of Eldena and the surrounding park host several events including theatre performances, and the Eldena Jazz Evenings.
I first encountered Eldena in literature anthologies and art history books on Gothic literature and 19th-century Romanticism, where Caspar David Friedrich’s paintings always mesmerised me. The German Romantic painter, born in Greifswald in 1774, immortalised these ruins in several works, including Winter and The Abbey in the Oakwood.
Some places stay with you long after you leave. For me, Eldena is one of those. Of all the places I visited during my years in Greifswald, Eldena remains one of the most meaningful ones - a Romantic pearl on the Baltic shore, still carrying the same melancholic charm that once inspired Friedrich.
