Barth

Barth is a small town near the Baltic coast in Mecklenburg Western Pomerania, only 5 miles from the Darss peninsula. The town, which has been a state-approved health resort since 2015, is often called the “Gateway to Darss”.
Its coastal flair and the maritime industry, which is still present and active today, are prominently visible throughout the small town. In the 19th century Barth was one of the best known and most flourishing shipbuilding sites in the north of Germany, and even today it is still similar to the typical Hanseatic cities, although Barth was never a member of the Hanseatic League.

Its major landmark, St. Mary’s Church with its spire towering to 80 metres, is an imposing building in the centre of the old town and is still used as a navigational aid for seafarers. Many historical mediaeval buildings testify to the town’s impressive cultural history.

Since the beginning of the millennium, the small town by the lagoon with 8,600 inhabitants has called itself the “Vineta town”. Scientists from Berlin concluded from their research that Barth was connected with the location of the sunken town of Vineta. Is this really true? Nobody really knows. But as is typical of legends, there is probably a grain of truth in the oral tradition. Perhaps more, perhaps less. Anyway, the myth of “Vineta” can be experienced in the Vineta Citizen House which was opened in 2022 and is a modern “house for visitors” offering a year-round exhibition to convey an experience of the story, a tourist information centre, an art exhibition and a municipal library.

Today, Barth is a small modern Pomeranian town, but it has a lively tradition of celebrating its history. Examples include the annual children’s festival, the “zeesenboot” regattas with the typical local fishing boats and the barrel smashing tournament (Tonnenfest). These events are now part of the region’s intangible cultural heritage.

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Papenhof, Barth

Late mediaeval brick building (15th century) The Papenhof is situated to the west of St. Mary’s Church and is considered to be one of the oldest preserved secular buildings between Rostock and Stralsund. It is a solid mediaeval two-storey brick building with an early modern half-timbered extension of the same size (1585), and both parts are covered by a shared hipped roof. The building contains many preserved historical details in its exterior structure and its richly appointed interior, making it a rare and authentic testimony to the original history of the building. It is also an important building in the history of the region because records show that in the late 16th century Duke Bogislaw XIII gifted it to his senior district official, von Steding, to use as his official residence. This mediaeval building type, consisting of a narrow solid brick building with a pitched roof, has hardly been researched and is an extremely rare example of the type. It can most readily be compared with the former Old School in Wismar, which was destroyed in the Second World War, and the former Latin school of St. Nikolas’ Church Stralsund. The Papenhof is regarded as the only well-preserved mediaeval Kaland […]

Papenstraße, Barth

Papenhof, Barth

St. Jürgen Chapel, Barth

St. Jürgen Chapel, outside the town gates. Two-bay chancel, 14th century St. Jürgen Hospital in Barth was first mentioned in 1322 and was mainly used as an infirmary for patients suffering from leprosy or the plague. The only surviving part of the associated chapel is the two-bay Gothic chancel with its outer walls around 5 sides of its basic decagon structure. The nave, which probably had three bays, is only preserved in its outer walls as far out as the level of the windows which exist today. The chapel was later altered to accommodate a change of use. In 1818 parts of the walls of the nave were used in the construction of a two-storey building with five window axes with a central aisle, rendered outer walls and a pitched roof. In the interior of the chancel there are still paintings from the original construction period in the 15th century which were concealed under later layers of plaster and only rediscovered during extensive refurbishing work in the summer of 2002. These uncovered illustrations, including St. Christopher, were restored. Today St. Jürgen is used as a Bible Centre. It conveys information about biblical subjects by means of exhibitions, special events and […]

Sundische Straße 52, 18356 Barth

St. Jürgen Chapel, Barth

Fangelturm, Barth

Originally “nova turris” (New Tower). Fortified tower with battlements, 12 metres high (without dome), diameter 7.70 metres, wall thickness 1.90 metres In the town records it is first mentioned in the 16th century as the “New Tower”. The illustration by Braun and Hogenberg from 1590 shows it as a fortified tower with battlements. The tower with a dungeon was part of the prison and execution complex which was located at the end of Turmstrasse in 1550. The name Fangelturm (prison tower) probably only became established in the 18th century when the two storeys of the tower were converted into prison cells. In the 19th century a domed roof was built on the tower and decorated with a weathervane. After 1960 an astronomic observatory was built on the roof for use by the town’s upper schools. In this case, therefore, old and new have come together to form a happy combination. From Turmstrasse, visitors can use a staircase in the covered side building to reach the first floor of the tower. On this floor there are two arrow slits, and a third has been bricked in.

Turmstraße 9, 18356 Barth

Fangelturm, Barth

St. Mary’s Church, Barth

A Gothic brick building in the form of a three-aisle hall church dating from the early 14th century, with an early Gothic chancel from the 13th century; and with an 87 metre high tower with an internal staircase St. Mary’s Church is built in the northern German Brick Gothic style and rises to a height of 87 metres to the west of the market square. In the first municipal register of the town of Barth, the church is called the “ecclesia beate virginis” (Church of the Blessed Virgin), so it appears that it was already known as St. Mary’s Church. It was first mentioned in 1325 and was constructed in three building periods. The first part completed was the “high chancel” in the eastern part of the church, then the central nave and finally the tower. The building was completed by about 1400. The high tower also served throughout history as a guiding feature to show fishermen and sailors the way to Barth. Bogislaw XIII, the duke of Pomerania who had his residence in Barth, contributed many additional features to the church at the end of the 16th century (the bell, the former organ, chandelier etc.). Around 1860 the whole […]

Papenstraße 7, 18356 Barth

St. Mary’s Church, Barth

Of the original four town gates, only the Dammtor is still preserved. It was built in the middle of the 14th century, is 35 metres high and has an internal width of 4 metres for vehicles to pass through The Barth fortifications originally had four gates (Langer Tor, Dammtor, Wiektor and Fischertor), but only the Dammtor is still preserved. It was first mentioned in 1357 and measures 34.25 metres up to the very top. Under the roof there is an overhanging aperture supported by two brackets, where hot tar or other objects could be dropped on attackers – emphasising the gate’s original function as a defence structure. It was the finest of the four gates and is now protected as an architectural monument and a historic building. It was an important part of the town’s defensive fortifications which were built from 1325 to 1400 but gradually deteriorated around 1700 due to a lack of resources, but the layout of the defences can still be seen as a circle enclosing the town centre. The gate was the town’s boundary to the west. The land in front of the Dammtor was undeveloped until the first barns were built there after the 17th […]

Dammstraße, 18356 Barth

Dammtor, Barth