Schwerin - Dom

Schwerin is the capital German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, with less than 100000 inhabitants it is the least populous of all German state capitals.

Schwerin is enclosed by lakes. In the middle part of these lakes was a settlement of the Slavic Abodrites way before 1000. The settlement was first mentioned in 1018. After Henry the Lion had defeated the Abodrites, he had the defences rebuilt and granted city rights. 1160 is therefore traditionally regarded as the "German" year of Schwerin's foundation.

After Henry the Lion had now subjugated the lands of the Obotrites, he appointed a bishop in the (already abandoned) bishopric of Mecklenburg. This bishop moved the bishopric from remote Mecklenburg to Schwerin in 1167. There, in the presence of Henry the Lion himself, an act of consecration took place in 1171 on the Romanesque predecessor building of today's cathedral. At this time, only the apse will have been completed. The entire cathedral was not consecrated until 1248. Of this building, not much is left.

When Count Heinrich von Schwerin returned from the Crusade in 1222 he presented the church the valuable relic of the Holy Blood. So the cathedral became the most important pilgrimage church in north-eastern Germany. The Romanesque basilica was too small - and so the construction of the new Schwerin Cathedral began around 1270.

In 1327 the new choir was completed. By the end of the 14th century, the transept and the nave were finished except for the vaults. Builders from Stralsund completed the windows of the nave and its vaulting in 1416, thus ending the building history of the Gothic basilica of Schwerin Cathedral.

The cathedral seen from the market. The white building with the Doric columns is (still!) called "Neues Gebäude" (new building). It was opened in 1785 as a market hall to replace the stalls on the market. But that didn't work for long. Soon the stalls were back on the market. This is also the case today, while a café is located in the market hall instead.