Germany: Coast and Islands of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9418] ’Fisherboat near Rügen.’ Fisherboat leaving Rügen, the island that is seen in the distance. Photo Paul Smit.

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9473] ’Beechforest near Granitz, Island of Rügen.’ The island of Rügen is known for its beautiful beech forests. The photo shows the forest around Granitz in winter. Photo Paul Smit.

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9448] ’Limestone cliffs of Jasmund national park, Rügen.’ The famous limestone cliffs of Jasmund national park on the island of Rügen, seen in the pinkish winter light of sunset. The picture is taken from the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt viewpoint, called after an artist from the romantic period, who is known for his painting of this spot. Rügen was a favourite destination of German Romantics in those days. Photo Paul Smit.

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9391] ’Kloster on the island of Hiddensee.’ Island of Hiddensee: looking south over the village of Kloster from the Dornbusch hill. Photo Paul Smit.

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9396] ’Riding on Hiddensee island.’ Riding horseback on the island of Hiddensee, which has no car traffic. In the background part of the village Grieben is visible. Photo Paul Smit.

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9405] ’Baltic coast seen from Island of Hiddensee.’ Looking east from the Dornbusch hill on Hiddensee towards neighbour islands Bug and Rügen in the background. The two strips of land in front of Bug are part of Hiddensee and called Bessin. The village is Grieben. Photo Paul Smit.

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9442] ’Bathhouse in Lauterbach, Rügen.’ The town of Putbus on the island of Rügen has been built completely in classicistical style. The picture shows the Badehaus (bathhouse) of seaside resort Lauterbach, part of Putbus. The architect was Karl Friedrich Schinkel, for the duke Wilhelm Malte I of Putbus. It will be part of a spa hotel from 2007 on. Photo paul Smit.

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9424] ’Marienkirche in Bergen, Island of Rügen.’ Interior of the Marienkirche in Bergen, the capital of the island of Rügen. The church is completely covered with frescoes, discovered behind layers of plaster at the end of the 19th century. They were restored then, but now they need restoration again and the church seeks donations. The Marienkirche is a great example of the Backsteingotik, the brick architecture of the Gothic period, typical of the regions around the Baltic. Photo Paul Smit.

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9430] ’Marienkirche in Bergen, Island of Rügen.’ Baroque altar in the Marienkirche in Bergen, the capital of the island of Rügen. The church is completely covered with frescoes, discovered behind layers of plaster at the end of the 19th century. They were restored then, but now they need restoration again and the church seeks donations. The Marienkirche is a great example of the Backsteingotik, the brick architecture of the Gothic period, typical of the regions around the Baltic. Photo Paul Smit.

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9433] ’Frescoes in the Marienkirche, Bergen, Island of Rügen.’ The Marienkirche in Bergen, the capital of the island of Rügen, is completely covered with frescoes, discovered behind layers of plaster at the end of the 19th century. The partly abstract and psychedelical murals were restored then, but now they need restoration again. The church seeks donations. The Marienkirche is a great example of the Backsteingotik, the brick architecture of the Gothic period, typical of the regions around the Baltic Sea. Photo Paul Smit.

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9465] ’Flint field, nature reserve Schmale Heide, Rügen.’ The Feuersteinfelder (flintfields) in nature reserve Schmale Heide south of Neu Mukran on the island of Rügen are very rare on Earth. They have been eroded out of the coastal limestone cliffs and been washed inland by the sea about 4000 years ago. Photo Paul Smit.

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9376] ’Nikolaikirche, Stralsund.’ You think this church interior is too colourful to be true? Wrong. This is a honest restoration dating 1991 of the medieval frescoes (found at the end of the 19th century behind layers of plaster) in the gothic Nikolaikirche of Stralsund. In those days churches weren't dark and brown. The gothic style was an invention to bring light into churches. And people just loved colour. The church construction started 1270 and ended 1360, the crucifix seen here, placed above the highaltar, dates from 1360. Photo Paul Smit.

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9314] 'Beach of Ahrenshoop.' You can understand why the village of Ahrenshoop was a painters colony in the early 20th century. It didn't loose its original charm and is beautifully situated along the coast of the Baltic Sea on the peninsula Fischland-Darss-Zingst. Photo Paul Smit.

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9462] ’Fishermen, Sassnitz, Island of Rügen.’ Fishermen sorting the herring in the port of Sassnitz on the island of Rügen. Photo Paul Smit.

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9445] ’Limestone cliffs of Jasmund national park, Rügen.’ The Jasmund national park on Rügen preserves beech forests that reach to the edge of the limestone cliffs for which the island is famous. The sea hammers the cliffs during bad weather and pushes them back bit by bit, so now and then a tree is coming down. The beach is made up of flintstones, that come out of the cliffs. Photo Paul Smit.

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9449] ’Limestone cliffs of Jasmund national park, Rügen.’ The famous limestone cliffs of Jasmund national park on the island of Rügen, seen in the pinkish winter light of sunset. The picture is taken from the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt viewpoint, called after an artist from the romantic period, who is known for his painting of this spot. Rügen was a favourite destination of German Romantics in those days. Photo Paul Smit.

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9393] ’Holiday house on Hiddensee.’ Island of Hiddensee: holiday house on the flanks of the Dornbusch hill. In the background a part of the long beach framing the westside of Hiddensee. Photo Paul Smit.

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9407] ’Dornbusch lighthouse on Island of Hiddensee.’ Lighthouse from 1888 on the top of the Dornbusch hill, highest part of the island of Hiddensee. Galloways from Scotland are part of the typical prairy landscape of northern Hiddensee. Photo Paul Smit.

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9452] ’Beechforest, Jasmund national park, Rügen.’ It is still winter, but the anemones (Anemone nemorosa) flower already in the marvellous beechforests of Jasmund, part of the island of Rügen. Photo Paul Smit.

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9419] ’Inland sea or Bodden near Ummanz.’ Looking from the island of Ummanz towards its neighbour, the island of Rügen. This is the typical Bodden landscape, part of the Baltic Sea but on the inland side of the islands, where the climate is less rude and windy. National park Vorpommersche Boddenlandschaft (Western Pomeranian Bodden Landscape), of which Ummanz is part, tries to protect this unique landscape. Photo Paul Smit.

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9426] ’Marienkirche in Bergen, Island of Rügen.’ Baroque altar in the Marienkirche in Bergen, the capital of the island of Rügen. The church is completely covered with frescoes, discovered behind layers of plaster at the end of the 19th century. They were restored then, but now they need restoration again and the church seeks donations. The Marienkirche is a great example of the Backsteingotik, the brick architecture of the Gothic period, typical of the regions around the Baltic. Photo Paul Smit.

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9428] ’Marienkirche in Bergen, Island of Rügen.’ Baroque altar in the Marienkirche in Bergen, the capital of the island of Rügen. The church is completely covered with frescoes, discovered behind layers of plaster at the end of the 19th century. They were restored then, but now they need restoration again and the church seeks donations. The Marienkirche is a great example of the Backsteingotik, the brick architecture of the Gothic period, typical of the regions around the Baltic. Photo Paul Smit.

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9434] ’Frescoes in the Marienkirche, Bergen, Island of Rügen.’ The Marienkirche in Bergen, the capital of the island of Rügen, is completely covered with frescoes, discovered behind layers of plaster at the end of the 19th century. The partly abstract and psychedelical murals were restored then, but now they need restoration again. The church seeks donations. The Marienkirche is a great example of the Backsteingotik, the brick architecture of the Gothic period, typical of the regions around the Baltic Sea. Photo Paul Smit.

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9374] ’Nikolaikirche, Stralsund.’ You think this church interior is too colourful to be true? Wrong. This is a honest restoration dating 1991 of the medieval frescoes (found at the end of the 19th century behind layers of plaster) in the gothic Nikolaikirche of Stralsund. In those days churches weren't dark and brown. The gothic style was an invention to bring light into churches. And people just loved colour. The church construction started 1270 and ended 1360. Photo Paul Smit

[GERMANY.MECKLENBURG 9382] ’High altar, Nikolaikirche, Stralsund.’ Detail of the late gothic high altar of the Nikolaikirche in Stralsund. It dates from the final part of the 15th century. During World War II it was badly damaged. With it's empty spaces and missing parts it serves as a war memorial. Photo Paul Smit.