Karkna klooster ver 0.75

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Pealkiri: Kärkna klooster
Title: Kärkna Abbey
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A fictional reconstruction of the medieval Kärkna Abbey. Though I used the actual ground plans of the monastery as a basis for this drawing, the appearance of the buildings is pretty much hypothetical, and (probably) there is not enough evidence to make an accurate historical reconstruction at this level.

Kärkna Abbey (also known as Muuge klooster (Estonian), Kloster Falkenau, Valkenau or Valkena (German)) was a Cistercian monastery near Tartu (medieval Dorpat). The exact founding date of the monastery is uncertain, but it is known that by 1234, the initial buildings were already completed. At the same year, the monastery was attacked and destroyed by Russian forces from Vladimir-Suzdal and Novgorod. After that, the monastery was rebuilt as a stone fortress surrounded by a moat, and it became the largest water-surrounded fortress in medieval Estonia. Due its close proximity to Tartu, it also served as a north-western defensive outpost for the medieval town. At the beginning of the Livonian War (1558), the monastery was destroyed by Muscovite forces.

This picture probably illustrates best the appearance of the monastery in the first half of the 16th century, when most of its known fortifications were completed. Surrounding area of the monastery is based on the map www.ra.ee/fotis/index.php?type…

Some open questions:
*) graveyard or crypt? -- while some tombstones can be seen on the picture, hinting about a graveyard, it is not certain whether there actually was one. But it is known that there were crypts beneath the church of the monastery, so it is possible that all the burials were made there instead.
*) waterwheel inside the mill? -- nowadays, there is an old mill at the same location where the medieval mill was, but, unlike in the picture, it streches over the river and the waterwheel is inside the building. It is known that the contemporary mill has been built in 19th century, so I didn't consider it important to resemble it too closely.

Related:
*) Bishop's castle of Tartu v0.5:  fav.me/d7s799f
*) Vana-Kastre ver 0.5
*) Uue-Kastre castle: fav.me/d8ryty3
*) Otepää bishop's castle: fav.me/d9fubf0
*) Kirumpää bishop's castle: fav.me/davh8uf
*) Map of the prince-bishopric of Tartu: fav.me/dbauswd