The village church of Landow () is the Evangelical

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

of the parish of

Rambin Rambin is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Rügen district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the n ...

in the south of the German island of

Rügen Rügen (; Rani: ''Rȯjana'', ''Rāna''; , ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic ci ...

. It is located in the village of Landow in the municipality of

Dreschvitz Dreschvitz is a municipality in southwest Vorpommern-Rügen, a district on the island of Rügen in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is managed from the '' Amt'' of West-Rügen with its head offices in the village of Samtens. Geography The v ...

. It was built as a ''Wegekirche'' in Landow around the year 1312. A ''Wegekirche'' is a church which is designed such that the location of the priest and congregation gives the impression that they are on their way to the Lord, facing the Christ, usually in the symbolic form of a cross or painting. In 2004, dendrochronological research of the oak timber-framing was carried out. This demonstrated that the church is one of the oldest on the island of Rügen and may be the oldest timber-framed church building in North Germany and the entire southeast Baltic Sea region. The church was sited on an old salt and herring trading route. It was first mentioned in the records when reference was made to a priest at Landow ''...plebane (Priester) in Landaue'' dating to the year 1333. In 1369 a Kaland Brotherhood was mentioned, something which was important for churches in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. The original timber-framed of the building was bricked in around 1542. The interior was decorated in the

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

style in the 18th century. The altar, font, pulpit and painted wooden ceiling of the church all came from the workshop of the most important Pomeranian sculptor of the baroque style, Elias Kessler from the town of

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish language, Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German language, German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklen ...

. The

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

attached to the church later became a crypt chapel for the family of the church patrons. After 1945, the coffins were removed from the crypt chapel and buried in the cemetery. During the

GDR East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

period, major repairs were carried out, most recently in 1959 on the church roof. In the late 1960s, the continued preservation of the church building became an issue. The

consistory Consistory is the anglicized form of the consistorium, a council of the closest advisors of the Roman emperors. It can also refer to: *A papal consistory, a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church *Consistor ...

of the Evangelical Church of Greifswald felt in 1970 that it was no longer in a position to fund the preservation of the isolated church building. In 1982 the church was assessed as in danger of collapse and, in the 1980s, it was also removed from the county monument list. The church is now supported by a preservation society. Various events are held in it, including concerts as part of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival. The cemetery and its graves, some of which are very old, are also worth seeing.

Parish

The Evangelical parish belongs to the church district of Stralsund within the

Pomeranian Evangelical Church The Pomeranian Evangelical Church (; PEK) was a Protestant regional church in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, serving the citizens living in Hither Pomerania. The Pomeranian Evangelical Church was based on the teachings brought forw ...

Literature

* Ulrike Reinfeldt: ''Die Dorfkirche zu Landow.'' In: ''Pommern. Zeitschrift für Kultur und Geschichte.'' Heft 1/2012, , p. 16–19.

External links

*
Kirchenseite
{{Coord, 54, 24, 14, N, 13, 15, 34, E, type:landmark_region:DE-MV, display=title Lutheran churches in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Buildings and structures in Vorpommern-Rügen Rügen Dreschvitz Lutheran churches converted from Roman Catholicism

Parish

See also

Literature

External links