cloister – Snapping The Globe

With so many things to do and see in Quito’s historic city center, it was hard to choose, much less squeeze as much as we could into one day!

Trying to maintain a balance of churches, convents and monasteries was the challenge as there are so many to visit.

The Monasterio Museo del Carmen Alto was one of the monasteries that I was interested in for its rich history. Built in 1653, it is still home to twenty Carmelite nuns and houses an fascinating museum.

The whitewashed, two-story building was the former home of Quito’s patron saint, Mariana de Jesus (1618-1645). Today, thousands of pilgrims make their way to the monastery to pay their respects to this Ecuadorian saint. Thousands more come to tour the exhibits which explore the daily routines of the cloistered nuns who have made their lives here, the religious art and artifacts from the monastery’s prestigious history and to purchase some of the nuns traditional sweets.

The cloistered nuns at Carmen Alto stay busy by producing limones desamargados, hollowed out tiny lemons filled with a sweet creamy center. After your visit, make sure to stop by the gift shop near the exit where you can stock up on these sweet treats as well as traditional baked goods, aromatic waters for nerves and insomnia, bee pollen, honey and bottles of mistela (anise-flavored liqueur).

The Museo del Carmen Alto is a great place to soak up some of Quito’s religious history as well as gather some unique souvenirs!

For more pictures, check out Facebook, Snapping the Globe and Instagram, @snappingtheglobe.

Museo del Carmen Alto

http://www.museocarmenalto.gob.ec/
Address: Garcia Moreno y Rocafuerte, Junto al Arco de la Reina, Quito, Pinchincha 17015
Hours: Wednesday-Sunday, 0930-1700
Admission: Adults, $3.00, Students (with I.D.), $2.00, Children, $1.50, Seniors over 65 years and those with disabilities, free. Spanish tours, free. English tours, $4.00.
Getting There: Located in the Historic Center of Quito on García Moreno and Rocafuerte streets, next to the Arco de la Reina. By Trolebus, stop at the station of the Plaza de Santo Domingo. By car, parking available on La Ronda, Guayaquil Street, in Cadisan, Calle Mejía and García Moreno.

A couple of years ago, I visited the Fraumünster, one of Zurich’s four main churches. One of the city’s highlights, it boasts windows by Marc Chagall and a rose window by Augusto Giacometti. It is a historic site visited by thousands each year.

As much as I enjoyed my visit to the historic church, however, what is just next door to the Fraumünster is what is really the what visitors should come for!

Recently, a friend and I were walking past the Fraumünster, admiring its blue clock tower spire and carvings on the outer walls. Just past the church, we came to a gate and what appeared to be a cloister. Venturing inside, we discovered, that this was indeed the cloister from the ancient abbey.

The cloister was built at the end of the 12th century and moved to the present location in the 19th century. The Fraumünster church, next door, was built over the remains of the monastery around 1250.

As compelling as is a visit to the Fraumünster, it is the peaceful cloister’s origins that I found fascinating. In 853, King Ludwig of Germany’s two daughters, Bertha and Hildegard, lived in Baldern castle, high above the city. The extremely pious sisters would make their way down through the dark forest to the Grossmünster to spend time in prayer each morning and worship before the relics of Saints Felix, Regula and Exuperantius. Legend has it, however, that one day, the sisters encountered a stag with burning antlers in the darkened forest that led them down to the River Limmat across from the Grossmünster. After the encounter repeated itself many times, the sisters finally understood that it was a sign from God urging them to oversee the construction of a religious sanctuary for women at the edge of the river. King Ludwig was persuaded by his daughters to begin the fabrication and eventually appointed his daughters as the first abbesses.

This is the Legend of the Deer With the Lighted Horns and the fresco depicting this story can be spotted in the cloister along with many other amazing scenes painted by Swiss artist Paul Bodmer between 1924 and 1934.

Only a few other tourists walked through the cloister with its small central garden, flanked by two corridors, covered by beautiful Gothic arches. Other murals depicted the figures of Felix and Regula the patron saints of Zurich who are buried in the crypt beneath the Fraumünster and distinctive facial carvings can be spotted throughout the space on walls and atop columns.

A simple memorial was installed in the cloister on March 14, 2004 to honor Katharina von Zimmern, the last abbess of the Fraumünster Abbey. Created by sculptor Anna-Maria Bauer, the memorial consists of thirty-seven copper blocks layered into a compact square referring to the shape of an altar. There is also an engraved banner on the floor which states Die Stadt vor Unruhe und Umgemach bewahren und tun, was Zürich lieb und dienlich ist (to save the city from restlessness and surroundings and to do what is lovely and useful) referring to Von Zimmern’s handing over the convent to the reformation, thus stopping further bloodshed.

It was the legend of the deer, however, that kept bringing me back to inspect the murals more closely. What was it about Zurich and deer? There is another legend, involving King Ludwig’s grandfather, Emperor Charlemagne that tells how a stag led him to the graves of Saints Felix and Regula, but it was thinking back to a visit to Uetliberg, some time ago and remembering the large sculptural deer with lighted antlers lining the pathways. I had loved these strange tiled beacons, which represent what is an important part of Zurich’s history.

Whatever brings you to the Fraumünster’s cloister…be it the murals, the history, the tranquility or even the Legend of the Deer…know that you’ve stumbled across something extremely extraordinary!

For more pictures, check out Facebook, Snapping the Globe and Instagram, @snappingtheglobe.

Fraumünster Cloister

https://www.fraumuenster.ch/
Address: Münsterhof 2, 8001 Zürich, Switzerland
Hours: Monday-Friday, 0730-1830, Saturday, 0800-1800
Admission: free

Read more about the Fraumünster in my blog post, “The Münsters” on www.snappingtheglobe.com. https://snappingtheglobe.com/?p=2404

Tag: cloister

Treats and Treasures

The Cloister and the Deer