Wismar - Approaching St. Georgen

Slavic Obodrites lived in the area, where Wismar is now, until the end of the 12th century.

The exact date of the city's foundation is not clear, it had civic rights already in 1229 when migrants from Holstein and Westphalia settled here. The "Lübsches Stadtrecht" (town law) was confirmed in 1266. In 1259 Wismar joined a defensive agreement with Lübeck and Rostock, in order to counter the numerous Baltic pirates. Subsequently, more cities would agree to cooperate as commerce and trade were increasingly coordinated and regulated. These policies would provide the basis for the development of the "Hanseatic League". By the 13th and 14th centuries, Wismar had grown into a flourishing Hanseatic trading hub.

In 1632, during the Thirty Years' War, Sweden conquered the city, and the Swedish Crown received in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 after the end of the Thirty Years' War.

Swedish rule over Wismar ended de facto in 1803 when Sweden pledged the city to the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin for 99 years. Formally, Wismar reverted to Germany in 1903 and Sweden waived its right to redeem the pledge.

Wismar is a typical representative of the Hanseatic League with its city-wide Brick Gothic structures and gabled patrician houses and has alongside the historical old town of Stralsund been declared the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Historic Centres of Stralsund and Wismar".

St. Georgen is one of the three Gothic churches in Wismar.

The first church on the present site is first mentioned in 1269. In 1270, Heinrich I von Mecklenburg transferred the patronage to the Teutonic Order in Riga. Around 1340 a new building was begun. The choir of the predecessor church remained inside the building until its completion. After the roofs were covered, the new choir was vaulted.

The construction works ended in 1594 when the west tower was completed.

In April 1945, just a month before the end of the war, the building was severely damaged during an air raid. The tower burnt out completely, the church interior partially. The vault and roof of the nave, transept and tower collapsed. The surrounding walls remained intact.

The unprotected buildings deteriorated more and more. Since its foundation in 1987, the Förderkreis St. Georgen (St. George's Support Group) has worked with various campaigns first to save and then to rebuild the church.

The reconstruction of the Georgenkirche from 1990 onwards cost 43 million euros until 2017. In 2014, the city of Wismar and the parish of St. Georgen concluded an agreement on the joint use of the Georgenkirche. The use of the Georgenkirche is a combination of house of worship and cultural church.

Here is a (german) article about the rebuilding:

www.monumente-online.de/de/ausgaben/2005/2/den-besten-roc...