Ringsted Abbey

From the mid-12th century, King Valdemar the Great supported the abbey and financed, among other things, the reconstruction of the church.

The abbey remained a Benedictine monastery until the Reformation in 1536, after which it, following a transition period, became a royal estate, and the church became the parish church of the town.

From the king, the abbey estate passed to various wealthy men. The abbey’s original buildings decayed, while new farm buildings were added to the complex. In 1806, a fire broke out in a nearby barn, causing the abbey and large parts of the town to burn down.

In 1806, the wealthy man Casper Peter Bügel bought the abbey estate. He rebuilt the farm buildings at a safer distance from the church. However, this did not prevent the farm buildings from burning again, both in 1870 and in 1885. The current parish hall in red brick below the round parking lot is the estate manager’s house from the Bügel reconstruction.

Bügel wanted to secure the land for the family and established the Bügel Fidelcommiss, which tied up the assets to such an extent that the town became trapped between the abbey lands on all sides. The regulations made it impossible to sell the land, even though the town made offers several times. Only with changed legislation in 1917 was it possible to transfer the land to the town, which opened the door to a surge of business and construction activities.

Casper Peter Bügel himself, and several members of the family after him, are buried in the family tomb between the church and the parish hall – in the middle of the former abbey yard.