"Burgkloster Monasterio del Castillo is interesting and it worth a quick visit though I found the entrance fee quite pricey. It comes with a visit with the museum next door. Recommend it! There was a violin 🎻 rehearsal for a concert 🎵 later the evening.. was nice to hear it.."

Maria Achilleia

"A very quick but interesting exhibition. The space is so beautiful and peaceful and worth a visit."

I H

"In the Middle Ages, Lübeck's merchants viewed their city's prosperity as proof of a special divine favor—a favor that had to be maintained at all costs through Christian humility and confession. The castle monastery served this purpose. On its site, there was originally a castle built around 1150. It belonged to the Danish King Valdemar II, lord of Lübeck. However, in alliance with a coalition of North German princes, the citizens of Lübeck succeeded in shaking off the rule of the Danish crown in 1227. The decisive victory was won at the Battle of Bornhöved on July 22nd, the day of St. Mary Magdalene, a companion of Jesus Christ and witness to his crucifixion and resurrection. In Lübeck, people now believed they owed their victory on the battlefield to St. Mary Magdalene. The people of Lübeck therefore demolished the castle and probably had a monastery dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene around 1229. Dominican monks were to pray for the salvation of the souls of Lübeck's citizens, deliver sermons, and hear confessions here. Confessions took place in a private conversation at an altar, either in the monastery church or in a specially built confessional. Confession seemed particularly important to the merchants, who were generally suspected of easily committing extra-familial misdeeds during their trading journeys. Christian grounding also seemed to be in jeopardy, given the drive for economic profit. To nevertheless emphasize the Christian dignity of the city and its monks, a visual trick was employed. In the chapter house, for example, there is a very special wall painting. It shows two men in a ship: on the left, a man with a sword, and on the right, a Dominican with a tonsure. It is likely that the scene alludes to Lübeck's role in Christian sword missionary work in the Baltic region. In 1226, Pope Honorius III confirmed Lübeck's function as a port of departure for the Livonian crusaders. After all, the quarters of the Teutonic Knights were located near the monastery. Accordingly, crossbow bolts and arrowheads, among other things, were archaeologically recovered here. Merchants also went to war. In this respect, the monastery probably celebrated its pastoral connection to the Miles Christianus, the supposed 'Soldiers of Christ.' This is not the only seemingly secular scene in the former monastery. A keystone in the cloister depicts a courtly couple playing chess together. Unlike in other monastic orders, this form of mental training was not considered sinful among the Dominicans. Chess promoted clear strategic thinking and thus a spiritual connection to God. In urban aristocratic circles, the game was indispensable. It was therefore no coincidence that archaeologists discovered a chess piece during an excavation in the monastery in 2013. However, the monastery building played an inglorious role during the Nazi era. At that time, it was a courthouse with prison cells, where the so-called Lübeck Martyrs were held for "investigation" and conviction. They were three Catholic and one Lutheran clergymen. Pastor Karl Friedrich Stellbrink was initially a convinced National Socialist himself and had been a party member since 1930. He openly espoused anti-Semitic and anti-Catholic views, but soon recognized the anti-church attitude of those in power. He particularly criticized the Second World War in leaflets and during his sermons. In 1942, the Secret State Police finally accused him of having proclaimed from the pulpit immediately after a devastating British bombing raid on Lübeck: "Now God speaks with a mighty voice." Seen in this light, Stellbrink would have interpreted the catastrophe as divine punishment for the Nazi atrocities. Whether he actually said this is unknown, but the claim caused outrage among the citizens of Lübeck. Stellbrink was eventually beheaded in Hamburg."

Jannik Gorewoda