Castles, Fortified Castles, Monastic Houses and Fortresses

The towns and villages of the Mecklenburg Lake District are rich in old and venerable castles, fortified castles, mansion-houses and manor houses, to which magnificent chestnut, oak or linden-tree avenues often lead. Each of these old buildings has its own, often legendary, history. Allow yourself to be transported back to a half-forgotten age!
Schwerin, Guestrow, and Ludwigslust Castle are amongst the most important in the region. They reflect the splendour of the old residencies with dignity and add character to the town silhouette. In recent years the faithful restoration of these former ducal residences has been carried out with a great deal of enthusiasm. Today they are open to visitors and offer fascinating insights into the past. Valuable collections of courtly art, furniture, miniatures and gilded decorations in Ludwigslust cardboard – a special kind of papier mâché - are among the surviving and well worth seeing items. The castle gardens, laid out with great attention to detail, complement the architectural ensembles and are a great attraction for visitors.
The Doemitz Fortress, strategically well situated on the river Elbe, is one of the few very well preserved 16th century lowland fortresses in North Germany. In the Thirty Years War Tilly and Wallenstein, among others, fought here and used the fortress as bases. Battles in the course of the Wars of Liberation against Napoleon at the beginning of the 19th century left cannonballs embedded in the brick walls; they are still visible today. Mecklenburg’s distinguished nineteenth-century writer Fritz Reuter, who wrote in Low-German, also made his mark as far as Doemitz was concerned. His experiences during his three years’ detention in the fortress are described in his book “Ut mine Festungstid”. Today, the old fortress houses an interesting regional history exhibition about the fortress and the town of Doemitz.
Though the Mecklenburg Lake District has no imposing, centuries-old fortified castles for the visitors to admire, there are the ruined remains of such buildings, which are testimony to a long and varied history. In the small town of Burg Stargard near Neubrandenburg, for example, there is Germany’s only genuine example of a high fortified castle. From the 38-metre high keep visitors have a fantastic view over the landscape as formed by the Ice Age. The old fortified castle of Penzlin probably dates from the 13th century and houses real treasures, which tell of the medieval witch hunts in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Of special interest are the so-called Black Kitchen and the dungeons for witches. Experts believe that Burg Klempenow, north of Neubrandenburg, also dates back to the 13th century. It was one of the first noble residences in the period of the German settlement of this region. Large parts of the site have been renovated and are now open to the public for numerous cultural events.  The mediaeval fortified castle in Neustadt-Glewe is also open to the public and gives you an insight into the layout of the castle with the keep, the dungeons and tower hall. Like most of the fortified castles in the Mecklenburg Lake District, Burg Neustadt-Glewe has a museum with successive interesting exhibitions.
After the reformation in 1572 many of the monastic houses in the Mecklenburg Lake District were abandoned and fell into disuse; today they no longer exist in their original function. Nevertheless, parts of these historic sites have survived and thanks to the enthusiasm of voluntary organizations are once more open to the public. One example of this is the very well preserved Dobbertin Monastery with the only double-towered monastic church in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and a surrounding park.
The guided tours with well-informed guides from May to September are well worthwhile for any visitor. The convent church in Rehna and its well preserved surrounding grounds still give a good idea of the importance of the Monastery, especially in its heyday in the 14th and 15th centuries. The former Cistercian Convent on Schaalsee lake is today an important monument in the architectural and state history of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
In recent years it has been extensively renovated with great attention to detail and today exhibitions and guided tours give visitors interesting insights into its foundation period and later historical development.