Monastery of St. Brigitte (Tallinn)

The idea of ​​building the monastery of the Order of St. Brigitte belonged to three merchants from Tallinn - Hinrik Huxer, Gerlich Cruz and Hinrik Svalberg ( H. Swalbart ), who had a group of supporters ^[2] . In 1407, two monks of the order arrived from Sweden to Tallinn to help promote the order in Estonia.

Construction could only begin in 1417. For construction, the Livonian Order donated a plot of land to Pirita , which is 6 km from the current center of Tallinn. Svalberg supervised the construction, he was also an architect. Upon completion of the work, the church was consecrated on August 15, 1436 by the Bishop of Tallinn ( Heinrich II ). The construction was a typical building of the late Gothic style typical of the Middle Ages.

The peculiarity of this nunnery was that it was allowed to live and conduct divine services for male priests. According to the rules of the order, the monastery community did not exceed 85 people - 60 sisters and 25 brothers (13 of whom were priests, 8 - deacons ).

The complex was the largest monastery building in Livonia . There were rumors among the people that underground passages were dug from the monastery. In the XVII century, near the ruins of the monastery, a cemetery was built, on which local peasants were buried.

The monastery was destroyed in 1575 ^[3] during the Livonian War by the troops of Ivan the Terrible . Only the western facade of the monastery church with a height of 35 m, as well as fragments of the side walls, have survived from the complex.

The ruins of the monastery are the main attraction of Pirita and a place to relax. They are entered in the register of architectural monuments of Estonia ^[4] . Surrounded by the ruins, open-air concerts are held and Monastery Day is annually celebrated, accompanied by a fair. The complex hosts excursions.

In 2001, near the ruins of the monastery, a new monastery building was built of limestone, which became the home of the brigitte nuns. All construction and decoration materials for the new monastery were made in Estonia. The only exceptions are the bells of the monastery church made in Rome. Currently, there are 8 sisters in the monastery who came here from Latin America and India . The abbess of the monastery is mother Ricarda.

• In 1965, the film “City of Masters” was shot on the territory of the monastery (Belarusfilm film studio, director Vladimir Bychkov ).
• The plot and actions of the historical and adventure feature film " The Last Relic ", shot in 1969 at the Tallinnfilm film studio (directed by G. Kromanov ), also unfold in the walls of the monastery and its environs.
• The walls of the monastery can also be seen in the films: “ Zhenya, Zhenechka and Katyusha” ”(1967),“ Option “Omega” ”(1975),“ Sold Laughter ”(1981),“ Option “Zombie“ ”(1985),“ Entrance to the Maze ”(1989),“ Musketeers Twenty Years Later ”(1992), etc.

• Official site
• Page about the monastery on the site of Virtual walks VirtualGuide.ru