To see a series of large photos of St. Mary´s just click here! |
www.greifswald-infoweb.de |
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places of interest
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| The
people of Greifswald lovingly call St. Mary´s the "fat Mary"
because of its squat and massive appearance. Maybe its the oldest church
of Greifswald, but we do not know exactly. They started to erect this
gothic church in the middle of the 13th century and it took about 150 years to
complete this huge building. The exteriors of St Mary´s have not been
changed essentially since then. There is only one important exception:
The tall gothic spire seriously damaged by war was replaced by a flat
one in the 17th century.
The gable on the east façade is indeed a masterpiece of medieval brick architecture. The combination of red bricks and white-plastered areas emphasizes clearly the structure of the gable: there are eight pointed plastered blind arches of different height catching one´s eye immediately. Five slender towers, which rise a few metres above the broad saddle roof, divide the axial symmetric gable into four areas, each of which consists of 2 blind arches.
Inside the church the walls are painted in different colours. These medieval mural paintings give a cheerful appearance to the interiors of St Mary´s. The most interesting ones showing the Passion of Christ can be found in the southern side aisle. They date from 1411. In the nave there are two further noteworthy pieces of equipment: a wooden renaissance pulpit dating from the 16th century and the altarpiece showing the Christmas Eve. © Andreas Reuter |
