Landow Village Church

The village church of Landow is the Evangelical parish church of the parish of Rambin in the south of the German island of Rügen. It is located in the village of Landow in the municipality of Dreschvitz.It was built as a Wegekirche in Landow around the year 1312. A Wegekirche is a church which is designed such that the location of the priest and congregation gives the impression that they are on their way to the Lord, facing the Christ, usually in the symbolic form of a cross or painting.In 2004, dendrochronological research of the oak timber-framing was carried out. This demonstrated that the church is one of the oldest on the island of Rügen and may be the oldest timber-framed church building in North Germany and the entire southeast Baltic Sea region.The church was sited on an old salt and herring trading route. It was first mentioned in the records when reference was made to a priest at Landow ...plebane in Landaue dating to the year 1333. In 1369 a Kaland Brotherhood was mentioned, something which was important for churches in the Middle Ages.The original timber-framed of the building was bricked in around 1542. The interior was decorated in the baroque style in the 18th century. The altar, font, pulpit and painted wooden ceiling of the church all came from the workshop of the most important Pomeranian sculptor of the baroque style, Elias Kessler from the town of Stralsund. The vestry attached to the church later became a crypt chapel for the family of the church patrons. After 1945, the coffins were removed from the crypt chapel and buried in the cemetery.