Pirita Convent (Pirita klooster) was a monastery, for both monks and nuns dedicated to St. Bridget. In 1407 two brothers from St. Bridget Order Convent in Vadstena, Sweden, had arrived to Tallinn to promote with advice and other assistance the expansion of order to Estonia. In 1417 finally the first limestone quarry permit was obtained from the town with the help of the Grandmaster of the Livonian Order and the building of the Pirita convent started. The completed church was consecrated on August 15, 1436 by Tallinn’s Bishop Heinrch II.
The Pirita Convent operated over 150 years and was the largest nunnery in Old Livonia. It was brutally destroyed by Russian army short invasion in late January 1575. In addition, the nearby village was also destroyed. The local inhabitants never restored most of the buildings. As late as in last century – in the 1930s - potato field covered the former nuns quarters and the potatoes were stored in the former hypocaust of the abbess’s residence.
Today the beautiful park with the convent ruins is administrated by the Bridgettine sisters. The museum is opened year round.
References:Rosenborg Palace was built in the period 1606-34 as Christian IV’s summerhouse just outside the ramparts of Copenhagen. Christian IV was very fond of the palace and often stayed at the castle when he resided in Copenhagen, and it was here that he died in 1648. After his death, the palace passed to his son King Frederik III, who together with his queen, Sophie Amalie, carried out several types of modernisation.
The last king who used the place as a residence was Frederik IV, and around 1720, Rosenborg was abandoned in favor of Frederiksborg Palace.Through the 1700s, considerable art treasures were collected at Rosenborg Castle, among other things items from the estates of deceased royalty and from Christiansborg after the fire there in 1794.
Soon the idea of a museum arose, and that was realised in 1833, which is The Royal Danish Collection’s official year of establishment.