Kiek in de Mark

The Kiek in de Mark stands in Pasewalk, a town in the Landkreis Vorpommern-Greifswald. It is a round brick tower with a crenellated crown and an octagonal, unrendered helmet. A stork’s nest crowns the summit. The lower part is a square base of fieldstone, four and a half metres on each side. Above it the walls rise steeply into the cylindrical shaft. The tower was built after Pasewalk withstood a siege by Brandenburg’s Elector Frederick II in 1445. He had sought to curb the town’s autonomy. Local legend tells that Pasewalkers took about two hundred prisoners on the follow-up campaign to Prenzlau. The captives were freed only after a heavy ransom was paid, and the townspeople used the money to add this tower to their southern wall. Visitors find the tower at the southern end of Am Kiek in de Mark street, close to the town centre. The brickwork shows the marks of centuries, and the stork’s nest remains a living emblem. From the street the steep transition from square base to round shaft is clearly visible. The tower’s silhouette against the skyline is recognised as Pasewalk’s emblem.