our visit to wismar in the neighbour state of schleswig-holstein, mecklenburg-vorpommern was a good one - this city has a beautiful inner core with lots of little surprises. it is a city of water and of many churches. it once belonged to the hanseatic league in medieval times and the architecture really is proof of that, houses with typical gables and a distinct style are scattered everywhere. the most beautiful plaza is the marktplatz which is a wonderful compact architectural ensemble that showcases a lot of styles from gothic brick stone houses to baroque mansions to art nouveau middle-class houses. wismar also belongs to the world heritage sites of the unesco. it was also very interesting to visit a part of my own historic background - wismar was once situated in the former german democratic republic and my parents were always travelling to this part of the baltic sea before the wall fell - only a few localities away. little details were reminding us of this past everywhere, ice cream parlours that sold an icecream that was only available in the gdr, humouristic shop windows that showcased symbols and memories of the past and of course the architectural remains of former common properties - now oftentimes ruins. another interesting fact of this city: f. w. herzog created his silent movie classic 'nosferatu' in the medieval settings of wismar and also werner herzog's remake of this movie was filmed here. i love to visit places like this, my imagination always runs wild while exploring cities like this with so much history.
this post is rather long - proof that this town really was a highlight of our visit to the baltic sea.
the 'runde grube' ( round pit ).
russian letters used as a secret message to all 'ossis' out there. in germany we sometimes still divide east & west germans ( ossis & wessis ). this is kind of a little insult to wessis, but you have to take it with a grain of salt ;)
i really don't know who this is supposed to be, but i liked it nonetheless!
st. mary - or what is remaining of the once huge church. it was bombarded in world war II and destroyed in the era of the gdr.
part of the relief of the fürstenhof - it was once a ducal residence.
the main gate of the fürstenhof.
renaissance statues.
it is amazing how the architects of the brick stone gothic era built these turrets and gables in such an artistic way.
the portal of st. george, another church that was destroyed in history but this one got rebuilt again.
the inner architecture is really spartanic, but the high ceilings still fascinate and the acoustics of the church are rather splendid as well.
and you still can find little details of the former inner decoration, such as this interesting devil like creature.
the light was also really ethereal at times.
old grave stone.
panorama of the marktplatz with wasserkunst ( fountain ) & alter schwede - a building that was initially errected around 1380 - probably one of the oldest houses of the plaza.
art nouveau and brick stone gothic next to each other.
figurines of the fountain.
i really love those little windows. they belong to 'alter schwede' - it is a restaurant nowadays.
in the city hall you could visit a history exhibition - these paintings were drawn onto the cellar walls in medieval times.
helmuth von wrangel and his wife.
the pig bridge statues. there were four of them, don't ask me why i only took photos of three.
they looked like happy pigs.
the pit.
another portal, this time it's one of st. nicholas.
this was the only church we entered that still was decorated with actual church interiors. it was rather gloomy in there, but it was absolutely perfect. the exhibitions in this church examined the role of sinty & romanies - which was rather sad & upshaking - but interesting and important nonetheless.
shortly after i made this picture a woman reached out to me and asked if i'd be interested to climb up the stairs to the roof of the church. of course i was! you rarely get the chance to see the inner roof of a church or a city from above.
wismar out of a church hatch window.
and the sight into the church. it was marvellous.
my teeny tiny dad sitting on the right.
roof skeletons.
another view of a different part of wismar. you can look out onto the harbour from here.
after our church adventure ended we made our way to the old harbour. on our way there we passed by this crooked house.
toll house and water gate. the old harbour is really charming.
in the distance you can see the sailingship mercedes.
thormannspeicher - it was once a storehouse for grains and the like.
sailing lugger vegesack.
another panorama, this time of the old harbour and it's opposite: the timber harbour.
the baumhaus, another former toll house.
i love the colours of blue and yellow here.
the ship pictured here is called atalanta.
dolphin spots.
this picture i made with a special effect: miniature. i really love this effect and am using it constantly to kind of create some kind of magical mood. it feels so dreamy!
the turf terminal.
dad & mom.
and one last pic of st. nicholas from afar.
Comments