My Weekly Powerup | #club100 | Vitskøl Monastery and the magnificen...

Vitskøl Monastery has a history that goes back hundreds of years. From the power struggles of the Middle Ages to the peaceful present, where it has now become a place of education for young people. When the monastery was founded in 1158, the plan was to build the largest church in the Nordics – this plan was not successful, but the monastery was. Today, Vitskøl Monastery is still one of the oldest preserved monasteries in Europe. It' located near Ranum in northern Denmark.

After the Reformation in 1536, the monastery was converted into a manor house, but the monks were allowed to live there until approx. 1563. When a nobleman took over for a period, he wanted a different name for his manor. So he renamed the place to Bjørnsholm. Eventually the monastery church was abandoned and in the years after 1668 the building gradually disappeared. The materials were used by people who lived in the area. In 1942, the manor regained its original name. Vitskøl.

A walk through the monastery garden

In this monastery garden at Vitskøl, both spices and medicinal herbs have been grown for approximately 850 years. The monastery was built by the monks who belonged to the Cistercian order. Even today, taking a walk in the garden is a great pleasure. Herbs are still grown in here. They have become a trademark for Vitskøl. In addition, the garden contains both greenhouses and botany from five gardens.

The oldest garden can be dated back to the year 826. The apothecary garden contains medicinal plant. There is a herb garden and a fragrance garden that has signs in Braille. The "Snapsourtehagen" has more than 60 different herbs and shrubs. They are used as ingredients in schnapps. The fact that Vitskøl Kloster is a very famous manor house in Denmark is due to the large herb garden which has more than 100 different medicinal herbs.

These gardens became famous because of a couple who moved to Vitskøl in 1942. Together they were to run a youth home. They became fascinated by the many plants that the monks had introduced in the 12th century. They therefore started a project to save these plants. Together with a gardener they laid out a proper monastery garden where they could collect a selection of the plants. The way the garden looks today is how it has looked since 1983. I was here in May when everything was green. A great place to visit, even you are not a botanist.

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