Kärkna Abbey (; or Valkenau), now ruined, was a former Cistercian monastery in Estonia.
Situation The monastery was sited about 8 km north of Tartu (formerly Dorpat) in the village of Lammiku near the point where the Amme River flows into the Emajõgi River.
History The monastery was founded before 1233 by the Bishop of Dorpat, Hermann von Buxhoeveden, and settled by monks from Pforta Abbey, of the filiation of Morimond. An early destruction by heathen inhabitants of the district is mentioned in 1234. After attacks by Russian forces from the principality of Vladimir-Suzdal and the Novgorod Republic it was rebuilt in about 1240 as a fortress surrounded by a moat and a rectangular granite wall. In 1305 it was placed under Stolpe Abbey on the Peene in Pomerania, which had joined the Cistercian order the previous year. In August 1558 the monastery was destroyed at the beginning of the Livonian War. There are remains of the foundations and of the perimeter walls.
Buildings
The rectangular church was about 47 metres long, and consisted of a single nave of five vaulted bays. Unusually for a Cistercian church it also had a crypt of 10 bays containing two aisles, which was used not only as a place of burial but also as a place of shelter during hostilities. To the south of the church were attached the conventual buildings in the usual form of three ranges arranged in a square round a cloister and a central courtyard, with the chapter house in the east range.
List of abbots P.: 1234 Godefridus: 1253 B.: 1264 Winandus: 1277–1288 Daniel: 1295–1298 Johannes de Hapsele: before 1304 Dithmarus: 1304–1308 Hermannus: 1327–1336 Everhardus: 1346 Johannes: 1354 Albertus: 1388–1397 Bertoldus: 1411–1433 Gotfrid Mäke: 1462–1466 Johannes: 1484 Lambert: 1504–1525 Christoph Hogenstein: 1528–1535 Gerardus: 1538–1540 Hermann Wesel: 1544–1558 (also Bishop of Dorpat from 1554)
See also List of Christian religious houses in Estonia
References Dimier, M.-Anselme, 1971: L'art cistercien hors de France, p. 49, with plan. La Pierre-qui-Vire: Zodiaque Schneider, Ambrosius, 1986: Lexikale Übersicht der Männerklöster der Cistercienser im deutschen Sprach- und Kulturraum, in: Schneider, Ambrosius; Wienand, Adam; Bickel, Wolfgang; Coester, Ernst (eds): Die Cistercienser, Geschichte – Geist – Kunst (3rd edn), p. 654. Cologne: Wienand Verlag Tuulse, A., 1942: Die Burgen in Estland und Lettland, pp. 270–274. Dorpat