St.-Marien-Church

St. Mary's Church, popularly known as "Dicke Marie" (Fat Mary), is the oldest of the three large city churches in Greifswald.

The exact year of the start of construction of St. Mary's Church cannot be determined, but it is assumed that the construction of a basilica began after 1260. In 1275, the building plans were changed, and the structure was continued as a three-aisled hall church without a choir. By 1280, the construction was largely completed, but it can be assumed that work on the nave continued until the first half of the 14th century.

St. Mary's Church is a 67-meter-long brick building with a three-story tower, covered by a mighty gable roof. The east gable was built as a straight wall. It impresses with its decorative elements of slender pillars and pointed arch blind arches, a successful example of North German gable ornamentation. The lower part of the tower, with its walls up to four and a half meters thick, was already completed at the beginning of the 14th century. Today it is covered by a vestibule. The middle story is provided with pointed arch blind arches, and the recessed upper part has sound holes. The structure is topped by a tent roof, which was only added in 1780 in place of the spire damaged by the war in 1678. In addition to the tower vestibule, St. Mary's Church only has the Annenkapelle (St. Anne's Chapel) as an annex. It has a six-part vault with polygonal ribs.

Inside, four pairs of pillars, which support the flat cross-rib vaults, divide the 21-meter-high space. The individual construction phases from east to west can be read from them. During the French occupation, the church lost most of its interior furnishings. The medieval painting was restored between 1977 and 1984. The most valuable item of inventory is the pulpit from 1587, made by the Rostock cabinetmaker Mekelenborg. It is richly decorated with wooden inlays depicting landscapes and people, including an image of Luther.

The late Gothic carved altar was probably made at the beginning of the 16th century by a Swabian artist and depicts the Entombment of Christ. Another altar shows the Nativity of Christ after Correggio, copied in 1806 by Friedrich August von Klinkowström.

Numerous tombstones are also located in the interior, including the memorial stone of Mayor and university founder Heinrich Rubenow from 1462. In addition to his figural representation, an inscription commemorates his violent death.

In 1985, the painter Helmut Maletzke transformed the memorial plaque for those who fell in World War II into a memorial against war. It is located in the tower hall.