St. Mary's Church, Rostock

St. Mary's Church, Rostock, in German Marienkirche, is the biggest of three town churches found in the Hanseatic city of Rostock, in northern Germany. The other two are St. Peter's (Petrikirche) and St. Nicholas (Nikolaikirche). A fourth, St. James' (Jakobikirche), was heavily damaged during the Second World War and subsequently demolished. St. Mary's was designated in 1265 as the main parish church and since the Protestant Reformation in 1531 it's the house of a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Mecklenburg.BuildingSt. Mary's Church, on Ziegenmarkt, is a large Brick Gothic church. Built in the 13th century, it was enlarged and modified at the end of the 14th century into the present basilica. The first reference to a church on this site is in 1232, which is thought to be the predecessor of the current building. The triple-nave cross-shaped basilica is in Brick Gothic, a building style typical of the Hanseatic port cities of northern Germany. The huge tower with a baroque lantern at the top was not completed until the end of the 18th century.InteriorHigh AltarThe high altar was built in 1721 by a Berlin craftsman, mainly from painted wood. The altar shows in three pictures; Bottom: " The Last Supper " ; Middle: " The Resurrection " ; Top: " The Effusion of the Holy Spirit ".