St. Catherine's Monastery or the Dominican Monastery is a former monastery and one of the oldest buildings in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. It is located in the heart of Tallinn's Old Town district full of warehouses and merchants' houses. Its remains constitute one of two remaining medieval monastery complexes in Tallinn.
A Dominican monastery is known to have existed at the site since at least 1246. The site, between present-day Vene and Müürivahe streets, was chosen carefully so as to facilitate both the friar's ability to preach to a large audience, and to suit their business interests, as they are known to have traded in fish. The monastery also had a brewery, producing four types of beer. Throughout the Middle Ages, the monastery was renowned for its scholarship.
In 1524, during the Reformation, the monastery was destroyed. Only fragments remain of the original complex. Parts have been incorporated into the Roman Catholic St. Peter and St. Paul's Cathedral, and other parts, including a finely carved portal, are visible via St. Catherine's Passage (Katariina käik), connecting Vene and Müürivahe streets.
References:Linderhof is the smallest of the three palaces built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria and the only one which he lived to see completed.
Ludwig II, who was crowned king in 1864, began his building activities in 1867-1868 by redesigning his rooms in the Munich Residenz and laying the foundation stone of Neuschwanstein Castle. In 1868 he was already making his first plans for Linderhof. However, neither the palace modelled on Versailles that was to be sited on the floor of the valley nor the large Byzantine palace envisaged by Ludwig II were ever built.
Instead, the new building developed around the forester's house belonging to his father Maximilian II, which was located in the open space in front of the present palace and was used by the king when crown prince on hunting expeditions with his father.