Landow Village Church

The village church of Landow stands in the south of Rügen island, a timber-framed building first raised around 1312 as a Wegekirche. A Wegekirche guides the eye forward, with priest and congregation facing the east end where Christ is shown. Dendrochronology in 2004 proved the oak timbers date from that time, making it one of the oldest churches on Rügen. It sits on an old salt and herring trading route, and the first written record names a priest here in 1333. A Kaland Brotherhood is mentioned in 1369, a sign of the church’s medieval importance.

The original timber frame was encased in brick about 1542, and the interior was redone in the 18th-century baroque style. Elias Kessler, the leading Pomeranian baroque sculptor from Stralsund, carved the altar, font, pulpit and painted wooden ceiling. A vestry became a crypt chapel for the church patrons’ family, though coffins were removed after 1945 and laid to rest in the cemetery. During the GDR years the roof was repaired in 1959, but by 1982 the building was judged close to collapse. It was later taken off the county monument list before a preservation society took charge.

Visitors find a plain brick exterior enclosing a richly decorated interior. The baroque furnishings by Kessler remain in place, and the painted wooden ceiling draws the eye upward. The attached cemetery holds old graves, some centuries old, set among grass and mature trees. The churchyard is quiet, with views across the flat countryside of southern Rügen. Concerts are held here as part of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, adding music to the stillness. The preservation society keeps the building open for quiet visits and occasional events.