Editing Maribo (section)

==History==

[[File:Ruiner af Maribo Kloster.JPG|thumb|270px|left|The ruins of [[Maribo Abbey]]]] 
[[Saint Birgitta]] (1303–1373), also known as Birgitta of Vadstena, has cast her shadow on this municipality, and is shown on the municipality's coat-of-arms.  Her order established the [[Bridgettines|Bridgettine Order]]'s [[Abbey]] in Maribo, when 1416 monks from Vadstena Abbey were sent to Maribo, then called Skimminge, to help establish a monastery.

In 1536, however, the abbey was abolished and transformed into a convent for noble virgins in 1556.  After the old town church burned down in 1596, the abbey church then in place received status as town church.<ref>[https://museumlollandfalster.dk/en/klosterruinen/ Klosterruinen] Museum Lolland-Falster</ref>

King [[Christian IV of Denmark|Christian IV]]'s daughter, [[Leonora Christina Ulfeldt]], was probably the abbey's most famous resident.  In 1685 after her release from 21 years imprisonment for high treason from the Blue Tower (''[[Blåtårn]]'') in Copenhagen's Castle, she spent her final years in the then already dilapidated abbey, and was buried in a crypt at the church, until her body was removed shortly after the burial.<ref>[https://visitlolland-falster.com/tourist/plan-your-holiday/royal-daughter-leonora-christina-gdk616358 Royal Daughter Leonora Christina] VisitLollandFalster</ref>

In 1803-1804 the islands of [[Lolland]]-[[Falster]], which previously belonged to the [[Funen]] [[diocese]], were made into an independent diocese, and the abbey church was given the status of the diocese's cathedral (''domkirke'') now known as [[Maribo Cathedral]].  The bishop, however, resides in [[Nykøbing Falster]].

Several times during the 1800s the church has been secured against decline.