IGS "Johann Wolfgang von Goethe"

The Black Monastery in Wismar stands where the city’s southeast corner once met its medieval walls. Founded in 1292–93 by Dominican friars, it took its name from their black robes and grew on land donated by the local lord. The friars built in brick, laid their own kiln in 1305, and soon formed a busy convent with a large hall that hosted civic meetings and legal hearings. The monastery’s church was consecrated in 1397 to Saints Peter and Paul, the Three Kings, and other saints. Its surviving choir, designed by Martin Cremer, shows a bold five-sided end shaped to fit the city wall. Inside the cloister’s south wing, fragments of colourful murals still mark the refectory and the heated winter dining room. A separate infirmary building once stood along the wall, its deep cellars now hidden beneath later paving. Visitors walk past the high choir and enter the quiet square of the former cloister. The east range still joins the church, while the south range’s vaulted rooms give glimpses of the friars’ daily life. A small chapel added in 1398 holds the tomb of the Dominican theologian Thomas Aquinas. Outside, the old monastery walls run beside the street, recalling how closely the friars once worked with the town.