The Cistercian abbey of Valkena was founded by Hermann I, the first Bishop of Tartu, who spent his blind old age there and was buried in it. Novgorod’s army destroyed the first buildings in 1234; the new abbey rose on an artificial island where the Amme meets the Emajõgi, as the largest water castle in Estonia: a square ring wall with towers, a moat, and a two-story church with a crypt along the north wing. Muscovite troops destroyed it in August 1558.
Ground-floor walls survive beneath grassy mounds; only about 10 meters of them are visible.
Owners
Tsistertslaste ordu1234–1558
Good to know
The German name Falkenau comes from its historical name, Valkena.
Probably 30 to 40 monks lived in the abbey.
In the 1700s the ruins were probably quarried for the Tartu fortifications.
Photos through time
1700s · The abbey ruins drawn by Johann Christoph Brotze Johann Christoph Brotze · Public domain1700s · Kärkna Abbey in a drawing by Brotze Johann Christoph Brotze · Public domain1917 · Plan of the abbey, 1917 Unknown · Public domainarchive · Kärkna Abbey, ground plan Tartu Ülikooli muuseum, ÜAM F 483:45 F · CC BYarchive · Kärkna Abbey, ground plan Tartu Ülikooli muuseum, ÜAM F 483:47 F · CC BY2008 · The abbey ruins, 2008 Eksootiline Lind · CC BY-SA 4.0
