During the restoration of parts of the Stralsund Katharinenkloster, additional wall paintings were uncovered, according to Stern. The director of the Stralsund Museum, Maren Heun, revealed that these wall paintings date from around 1500. “It is of very high quality,” Heun stated during a tour on Wednesday, as reported by Die Welt.
The newly uncovered painting depicts a motif that was popular in the late Middle Ages. In the artwork, the Archangel Gabriel drives a unicorn into a closed garden and into the lap of Mary. Heun explained that in the Middle Ages, there was the belief that a unicorn could only be captured by a pure virgin. “It’s actually about the Annunciation and about the Incarnation of God in this whole story,” she said, according to N-TV.
From the hunting scene, dogs and hooves of the unicorn are still recognizable. “At the least, they are in stylistic connection with the mystical unicorn hunt,” Heun added.
The large hall where the paintings were found, also known as the Remter, is the former assembly and dining hall of the monks. “The large hall is one of the largest three-nave halls in monastic architecture of the southern Baltic Sea region,” Heun said. The hall was not only reserved for the monks; the town’s society also used it, indicating its importance to the community.
“Such wall paintings show what the people in the Middle Ages, the monks in the Middle Ages thought, what was important to them, and how they decorated their monastery,” Heun stated. She further noted that the wall paintings help to discover “to what extent such motifs can still be interpreted.”
The former monastery, located in the heart of Stralsund’s old town, houses parts of the Stralsund Museum and the Maritime Museum, which was recently modernized over several years, according to Stern. During its modernization, historical discoveries were made, such as remains of the oldest known church in Stralsund, according to Die Welt.
The part of the monastery that houses the Stralsund Museum has been under renovation since 2019. Heun announced that the reopening of the Stralsund Museum is planned for 2026. “The gold jewelry from Hiddensee is also to be seen again then, which is one of the highlights of the exhibition,” she said.
As the renovations progress, the Stralsund Museum continues to operate its other venues, including the Marine Museum and the Museum House.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.
This article was originally published at www.jpost.com
