In AD 1711 the buildings were turned into a Lutheran convent. The nunnery has belonged to the Klosterkammer Hannover (Hanoverian Monastic Chamber) since the nineteenth century. In the medieval period, Kloster Lüne became famous for its embroidery and knitting. In particular, the main type of embroidery associated with Kloster Lüne is Opus Teutonicum. This is a form of whitework embroidery worked on linen using a white linen thread and sometimes white silk thread as well.
Works carried out at Kloster Lüne were normally of a religious nature and included wall hangings, altar cloths, vestments and so forth. Many were decorated with Biblical scenes, including representations of the Life of Christ or the Virgin Mary. In 1995 a textile museum was opened in the grounds of the convent, which includes examples of Kloster Lüne work. The Kloster Lüne Museum also includes other examples of medieval ecclesiastical and monastic embroidery, including Klösterwerk and items worked in Kloster stitch, a form of couching.
Address: Kloster Lüne, Am Domänenhof, 21337 Lüneburg, Lower Saxony, Germany.
See also: flagellation scene; medieval German embroidery' and an entry on an Osterteppich from Kloster Lüne.
Sources:
- SCHÜTTE, Marie (1927). Gestickte Bildteppiche und Decken des Mittelalters: Volume 1, Die Klöster Wienhausen und Lüne das Lüneburgische Museum. Leipzig: Karl W. Hiersemann.
- YOUNG, Bonnie (1970). 'Needlework by nuns: A medieval religious embroidery.' The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 28, no. 6 (February 1970). pp. 264-65.
Kloster Lüne website (retrieved 19 July 2016).
Digital source of illustration (retrieved 19 June 2016).
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