St. Mary's Church, Ribnitz, Germany

Begun as a three-aisle hall church at about the same time as the town Ribnitz was founded, the oldest pre-Romanesque parts of the St. Mary's Church are located in the western outer wall of the building. Pilister corner strips, a rounded frieze and lanset windows are amongst other remanents of this first church.

In the 14th century, the church was enlarged by the addition of two bays, and decorated by the addition of peaked arch portals in the north of south of these. After a 1455 fire, the building was rebuilt with a pentagonal choir bay and a massive ornamental helm on the top of the spire. The Great fire of 1759 destroyed this ornamental helm, as well as the building's vaulting and medieval interior. Under instruction of the court masterbuilder Johann Jachim Busch of Ludwigsluster, the tower's roof and its interior was rebuilt in a Gothic style.

The centre aisle of the church was distinguished from this time on by a semi-circular barrel-shaped timber supports, the side-aisles by a flat wooden roof. Busch envisaged a pulpit alter, and after the pulpit was relocated into the church nave, the alter was completed with the addition of the Ludwigluster court painter J.H. Surlandt; the image is a copy of Annibale Carraci's 'The Burial of Christ'. The church's northern and southern side-chapels were never restored due to insufficient funds, with the foundations also removed. Between 1841 and 1843, Georg Adolph Demmler oversaw the addition of a latern to the of a Baroque-style tower crown, heighening the tower, which still offers a sightseeing platform to visitors. In the 1970s, the church was threatened by structural damage, losing once more much of its interior: the 1883 organ, built by Friese of Schwerin, was removed. After 1980, the church was renovated, the interior again altered and a winter church on the site added.

References:

European Route of Brick Gothic

User Reviews

Jeru Ka (2 years ago)
A very impressive, powerful medieval church! A climb to the tower is highly recommended...I was up there alone last Sunday, October 1st...it was very sublime!

Monika Trautmann (2 years ago)
Finally it worked out with the visit to the St. Marienkirche Ribnitz Damgarten. A very beautiful church with unique wooden pillars. I've never seen anything like this. An organ with 259 pipes. The smallest only 8mm tall. An exhibition worth seeing about resources that are wasted or not used. The mistakes made by politicians in finally taking action to save the climate and stop climate change are listed. A highlight was that we were allowed to climb the Kurchturm, 214 steps, nothing for fat people. But it was a lot of fun and I can only recommend it to everyone as long as the conversion has not yet started. Great view

Ronald Neumann (2 years ago)
A very nicely kept church, I even allowed myself to climb the church tower because here you have a wonderful view of the back seat and the bay with the old military base. A few kilometers of visibility are promised with good visibility.

Elke1234 Oe (3 years ago)
Yesterday we took part in the book presentation by the author Dörte Hansen. It took place in the Marienkirche, the town church of Riebnitz-Damgarten. With her reading, Ms. Hansen introduced us to the main characters of her new book. We liked it very much. We had looked at the church itself a week before. It is a very beautiful sacred building.

Linda Åberg Luthman (4 years ago)
A fantastic church with an inspiring interior! The congregation are very welcoming and a choir and vicar that received us with a most friendly atmosphere. We had fantastic days! The building has an interesting architecture and structure. Linda Åberg Luthman, former member of Trelleborg S:t Nicolai Church choir, Sweden.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Klearchos Kapoutsis

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