St. Mary's Church, Greifswald, Germany

Marienkirche (St. Mary's Church) is unmissable because of a stubby tower called as 'Fat Mary'. The exact year of the construction is unkown. It is assumed that the building was begun after 1260. In 1275, the building plans were changed and the building continued as a three-nave hall church without a choir. In 1280 the building was mainly completed, but it can be assumed that the construction was still continued until the first half of the 14th century.

A Renaissance pulpit is a rare piece in an otherwise bare church.

User Reviews

Margitta Kummerow (11 months ago)
Very good, unfortunately you could not go in due to construction work

Dirk Ulbrich (2 years ago)
The church of St. Marien has a wonderful cross vault, is very bright inside and looks extremely sublime. When entering the church through the main entrance on the tower, one is greeted by the wooden cantilevered spiral staircase that leads to the tower. Due to the Corona requirements, the tower can unfortunately not be visited at the moment. In the entrance hall under the tower you can hear the majestic ticking of the tower clock. The inside of the church inevitably elicits a "WOW!" Visitors to Greifswald should definitely stop by, it's really worth it!

Toralf (2 years ago)
Beautiful Gothic church that has been lovingly renovated and restored. Definitely worth seeing.

Michael Caspari (2 years ago)
Very nice church, unfortunately always everything under the sign of the crusaders and crusades

F. R. (4 years ago)
Somehow the height of the church impresses, but somehow the highlights inside were missing. Great organ and beautiful old pulpit. Was just a lot of construction site. On a small detour but ok.

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Govisity / Tip na Trip / kosice.guide

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Spisskà Kapitula

Spišskà Kapitula, a unique fortified ecclesiastical ensemble, began as a small fortified settlement overlooking Spišské Podhradie in the 12th century. It was the site of the residence of the Provost of the castle, in the no longer extant St Martin"s monastery, and later became a capitulary. This was destroyed in by Tatars in 1241-1243, but the pilgrim"s chapel, in rotunda form and dedicated to the Virgin, survived until the 18th century and the monastery until the 15th century.

The complex of buildings there is based on the Cathedral of St Martin, where building began in 1285 as a three-aisled Romanesque basilica with a chancel at the west end and a double spire. It owes its present form to successive remodellings and additions in the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles.

The Provost's residence was completed in 1281 and further religious buildings were added. Frequent raids by marauding Bulgars and others led to its being fortified in the 14th century. The cathedral was rebuilt in the later 14th century. In 1776 it became the residence of the Bishop and four years later a seminary was established. In 1819 the first teacher training centre in Hungary was founded there.

The Bishop's Palace is largely Baroque, with some excellent interior decorations, like many of the religious buildings in the group. The oval ground plan of the centre of the town is due to its having been fortified in the 14th century. The various religious buildings had defensive functions in this early period. New monastery buildings were erected when the provost"s residence was rebuilt and the whole area fortified. The earlier central fortifications were removed in the 18th century.

Spišské Kapitula is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site Levoča, Spiš Castle and the associated cultural monuments.

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