Part of the magic of travel for me is the historical events and life stories of the areas I visit. Aboard Viking Cruises´ 930-passenger Jupiter, we crossed the Baltic Sea from Scandinavia to Rostock, on Germany´s Baltic coast, and popular as a jumping-off port for all of the Nordic countries. Now this coast´s third largest city (pop. 210,000), it was part of Communist East Germany from the end of World War II till German reunification in 1990. The area was bombed by the Allies during World War II, but many of the original buildings survived the onslaughts.
In medieval times, Rostock was a thriving member of the Hanseatic League, which dominated trade in northern and central Europe from the 13th through 15 centuries, and traded extensively with dozens if not hundreds of towns and cities not just in Germany but also from the Netherlands to present-day Estonia. And one of its premier landmarks is the brick Gothic Marienkirche (St. Mary´s Church (above), the largest of the city´s three churches, founded in the mid-13th century.
Allan Kissam
Then in 1472 a great clock was constructed, then improved upon throughout the following 200 years. It´s an astronomical clock, with times and seasons indicated for church life as well as crop plantings; in the 15th century, other regions had built great clocks, and not to be outdone, the Rostock community dedicated its wealth to one of its own. Most notably, every day there´s a procession of the New Testament Apostles as they move across the top platform, above the clock face, with Judas bringing up the rear and being left outside the door holding his bag of silver blood money for betraying Jesus Christ. (For more, click here and here; for my photo of the more famous astronomical clock in Prague, click here).
Other notable features of the church include the gilded 18th-century altar (depicting three scenes, the Last Supper, the Resurrection, and ¨the Effusion of the Holy Spirit¨), and stained glass including one of Europe´s largest single stained-glass windows (85 feet high), depicting the Day of Judgment; and the St Roch altar (above), built in 1530 to commemorate the ravages of the Black Death (bubonic plague) which ravaged Rostock in 1387, along with many other parts of medieval Europe. (The church photo gallery is available here).
Other local highlights include Rostock University (est. 1419 and widely considered Germany´s most beautiful); the Neuer Markt (New Market Square) where the city hall (above) is located, and the city center´s main thoroughfare, pedestrianized Kröpeliner Straße, a hub of much of Rostock´s shopping and dining. My time here was brief but thoroughly enjoyable, and an eye-opening look at a lesser known gem of Germany.
Disclaimer: I was hosted by Viking Cruses but the opinions in this article are my own.
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