Rostock - Nikolaikirche

With more than 200.000 inhabitants Rostock is the largest city in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

Small Slavic settlements existed already in the 8th century. A settlement named Roztok was founded in the 11th century by Polabian Slavs. This town was burnt down by troops of the Danish king Valdemar I in 1161. Afterwards the place was settled by German traders.

After 1226 Rostock became the seat of the Lordship of Rostock.

In the 1250s the city became a member of the Hanseatic League. In the 14th century it was a powerful seaport town with 12,000 inhabitants and the largest city in Mecklenburg. Ships for cruising the Baltic Sea were constructed in Rostock. Until the last Hansa Convention in 1669, Rostock took a leading role in the Baltic Sea behind Lübeck.

In 1419, the University of Rostock was founded, the oldest university in the Baltic Sea area.

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The Nikolaikirche in Rostock was built as a brick church on a fieldstone base from 1230. It was consecrated in 1312 and enlarged when the massive tower was added to the building in the 15th century.

The original Gothic-pointed tower was 132 metres high was destroyed by a hurricane in 1703 and the tower was given a pyramidal roof in 1706 with a Baroque lantern.

During the bombing of Rostock in 1942, the tower and the nave burnt out completely and the vault of the nave collapsed. In 1948, the choir room was consecrated as an emergency church. The nave and tower stood only in makeshift ruins until 1976.

In 1974, it was decided to abandon the Nikolaikirche as a parish church. Reconstruction began in 1976 and offices and other service rooms for the church administration were built into the tower. Three residential storeys were built into the church roof.
From 1991, the vault was reconstructed.

Today, the Nikolaikirche is a spiritual and cultural centre, open for cultural use.