Sweden, Walking tour of the Vadstena Abbey
Welcome! Today we take a walk around the Vadstena Abbey, starting inside the abbey church. Construction of this church started in the late 14th century, it was inaugurated in 1430. The abbey that the church is a part of was founded a lot earlier than that. The abbey was founded by Birgitta Birgersdotter (1303-1373), who later became known as saint Bridget of Sweden. In 1346 the King Magnus Eriksson & Queen Blanka donated both land and a palace for the foundation of the abbey. The palace was built around 1260 by the royal Bjälbo (also known as Folkunga) family.
In 1370 the Pope Urban V approved the rule of Bridgets order which would later become known as the Bridgettines. The abbey was inaugurated in 1384, 11 years after the death of Bridget, who had passed away in Rome in 1373. In 1391 Bridget was recognized as a saint by Pope Boniface IX. A lot later, in 1999, she was named a patron saint of Europe by Pope John Paul II. The abbey used to be home of both monks and nuns. When the reformation started in Sweden in 1527 a lot of abbeys was seized by the crown and closed down.
But Vadstena abbey remained in operation longer than most other abbeys. The monks left in 1550 but the nuns remained active here until 1595 (or 1596?) before the abbey shut down. As this sign tells us, the relics of Saint Bridget (and other unknown saints) are located here.
The relics of Saint Bridget are one of the reasons Vadstena is a popular destination for pilgrims. After the abbey shut down and was seized by the crown, the surrounding buildings was used for various purposes. The buildings were converted to a residence for sick and injured army officers, a hospital and a mental asylum. Today those buildings contains a museum, a school, a restaurant and a hotel. The church building is operated by "Svenska kyrkan" (the Swedish church). Other than that, I don't have much more to say right now, I'll comment on things as we get closer to them from now on.
Sadly I don't get close enough to see the text below these wooden sculptures. But from what I can remember, most of the wooden sculptures in the church was from some time around the 15th century. Here is one of the wooden sculptures of Saint Bridget. While the sign below it was as blurry as all others I tried filming in here, I think it said that the sculpture was from 1392. This sign tells us that this is the Duke of Östergötland, Duke Magnus Vasa 1542-1595, the son of Gustav Vasa. The grave monument was made after the year 1599 by Hans Flemming.
Yes, it said "after 1599" so I guess they don't know the exact year the it was made. It isn't my camera getting out of focus here, for some reason the glass covering these signs was really foggy (or just dirty?). This sign tells us how the Bridgettines returned to Vadstena in 1935, settling 200 meters southwest of the old abbey. These signs talk about how one of the buildings of the abbey got converted to a "Warriors' house" in 1647. A "Warriors' house" was a mix of a hospital and residence for soldiers injured during the war.
I couldn't get close enough to the last signs and film them since there was other people there. But from the titles alone, it seems they discusses pilgrims and the history of the church, topics I've already covered. This is a runestone from the 11th century that was moved to this location in the 1820s. Only fragments of the text on it is readable, saying "raised this stone for Äskil, their father". These are old grave stones, the small signs next to the stones contains the name and years from each stone.
I did not notice those small signs until later, but I guess it wouldn't have been very interesting to film all of them anyway. Even when I was there, in person, the carvings on most of the stones was really difficult to make out. And sadly, it's even more difficult to see any finer details on the recorded video. This is where I finally realized that there were small signs next to the stones. This is a model of how the abbey might've looked in the mid 15th century. And this sign tells us that the area we're currently at was the sisters' convent.
Even if there were both monks and nuns living at the abbey they obviously lived separately and this is where the nuns lived. This building is the former palace built in the 1260s that today houses the abbey museum. And this building is the previously mentioned former "warriors' house".
Now we've arrived at the ruins section of the abbey, these ruins were excavated 1926-1930. Here is where the abbey's brewery and bakery used to be located. And here we have a map of the ruins, with descriptions of the different rooms.
This place also housed the brothers' and sisters' locutories. Here the brothers and sisters of the abbey could converse through barred windows. Notes and books could be exchanged through a box or spinning barrel in the wall. Only official communication was allowed, no private conversations were permitted. Maybe you're wondering why there is a strange cut in the video here? To be honest, I'm wondering the same. While walking here, I suddenly noticed the screen on my camera flashed white and the recording timer reset to zero.
My best guess would be that the camera overheated and this was only the beginning of struggles with my camera. I've recorded quite a few videos after this and most of them has been fine, but some has been cut short due to camera problems. I guess It's about time I started looking for a new camera.
Now we're at the sisters' locutory, with reconstructions of how the barred windows for communication might've looked. This sign just contain the same information as we saw earlier. The sign to the left tells us we've arrived at the Vadstena Pilgrim center. They offer various services to pilgrims visiting Vadstena. In the plans for the abbey made by Saint Bridget, she included three gardens.
A fruit garden, a spice- and herb-garden and a grass garden. It is probably no big surprise that the old gardens were lost some time after the abbey was abandoned at the end of the 16th century. But in 1983 a new herb garden was created which we will reach soon. And here we have it, the recreated herb garden. And this sign tells us it is in memory of Rolf Erixson that recreated the herb garden in 1983.
Here we have a sign with both a map of the area as well as some history of the abbey. And with this we've reached the end of this tour of the Vadstena Abbey, I hope you've enjoyed it! Thank you for watching!
2024-08-24 11:37
