I returned to Lüneburg on Friday, May 13, for the third time since first arriving in Germany back in October. I had been invited back to Kloster Lüne to attend a couple lectures about Lüneburg during the fifteenth-century reformation and the Protestant Reformation on Friday, and decided it would be a great time to take some more photos of their embroideries with newer equipment and more experience under my belt!
I stayed in the same room in the monastery, and it was so nice to see the familiar faces of the Conventalinnen and Abbess again! (The women in Kloster Lüne today are not "nuns," and the church is now Lutheran. The women are called Conventualin, and work to maintain the church, give tours, participate in the church community, etc. It is a cultural and even religious position, but they do not take any vows.) The Conventualin who always helps me out is named Charlotte, and I even got to meet her dog Grisela this time! But more on that later...
So I arrived on Friday afternoon, and attended the lectures that evening. The lectures are part of a series they are hosting called "Lüneburg on the Eve of Reformation." The first was about the reforms that took place in the monastery around 1480, which aimed for a return to strict observance of monastic vows. Then the second lecture discussed how the Lutheran Reformation affected the monastery, and how it was slowly converted to a Lutheran institution. The lectures were extremely well-attended! Afterward, there were finger-foods and local beer and fellowship. While I passed on the beer, I was able to catch up with Charlotte and the Abbess after the crowd died down.
I spent all day Saturday in the museum photographing the textiles again. I have so much more camera equipment now and a greater understanding of all of the photographic techniques than when I first went to Lüne, that I was very excited to get some new photos! I focused on the brightly-colored klosterstich embroideries made between 1500-1510, rather than the earlier "white work" embroideries, because I am especially interested in their particular aesthetic and the fact that they were produced after reformation efforts (which often slowed down artistic production).
Miracles of the Resurrected Christ, 1503-1507
Provost Choir Stall Hanging, 1508
Sibylls and Prophets, 1500-1502
Tree of Jesse, 1503-1505
This small scribe in the border of the Sibylls & Prophets has the initials of the nuns on the tablet!
Nun initials in the border of the Miracles of the Resurrected Christ
Saturday evening, we got to ring the church bells at 6:00pm and then I joined Charlotte for dinner and dog-walking. It was a very pleasant evening, and I loved watching Grisela play ball all by herself as she buried the ball under leaves, scratched around until it popped up, chased it, ad then did it all over again!
Ringing the bells in the nuns' gallery!
This shows where the ropes go up through the ceiling into the bell tower
Sunday (Pentecost) I went to church with the Conventualin, and was even able to sit up in the nuns' gallery! After church, I left the monastery and went into town to re-visit the large churches and check out the city museum. Sight-seeing was cut short by rain and hail, but it was certainly nice while it lasted! Was a great end to another super stay in Lüneburg!!
tremendous photos
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