Veste Landskron or Lanzkron is a Renaissance water castle in the municipality Neuendorf B, Vorpommern-Greifswald district, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Built between 1576 and 1579, it deteriorated in the 17th century. Its ruins are a tourist attraction and frequently the site of cultural events.
Landskron is southeast of the junction of autobahn 20 and federal route B 199, south of the village Janow (part of the Neuendorf B municipality) and west of the village Rehberg (part of the Spantekow municipality). [1] To the south is the Großer Landgraben valley, marking the border between Mecklenburg and Pomerania. [1] Made of boulders and bricks, it is situated on an elevation of glacial till surrounded by swampy meadows. [2]
Construction was started in 1576 by Ulrich II von Schwerin, member of one of the oldest Pomeranian noble houses. [2] The von Schwerin family was divided in about 24 branches in the 17th century, whose members lived in Pomerania, Mecklenburg, Brandenburg, Poland and Sweden. [2] Ulrich was the fifth son of another Ulrich von Schwerin, Großhofmeister at the Pomeranian ducal court. [3] He financed the building, which cost about 40,000 gulden, [4] from pay received for military service for the duke of Mecklenburg. [2] The castle was designed as a Renaissance style water castle. [5]
The rectangular main building, a keep about 25 metres (82 ft) long and 15 metres (49 ft) wide with three upper stories and a basement, was secured by four round towers attached to its edges, a wall and a moat. [4] One of the keep's towers (Hungerturm) was used as a dungeon to incarcerate abducted people held for ransom. [4] Attached to the keep's eastern front was the entrance building (Vorschloß), about 10 metres (33 ft) long and 12 metres (39 ft) wide. [4] In front of the entrance to the keep, which could be reached by a drawbridge, laid the courtyard (Vorburg), and both the keep and the courtyard were surrounded by an outer wall and another moat. [4]
In the west, the outer wall was immediately adjacent to the inner moat and comprised five small bastions. [4] The castle was entered through a gatehouse in the northern outer wall, comprising a guardhouse west of the gateway that led to the courtyard, and the stables in its eastern part, where also a well was located. [4] A second drawbridge, [4] made from copper according to legend, spanned the outer moat in front of the gatehouse. [2] Two other separate buildings stood on the courtyard - a chapel to the south and a kitchen to the east. [4] The castle was finished in 1579. [4]
The initial and still most widely used name of the castle was Landskron ("Land's Crown"). [2] Legend tells that the name was frowned upon by the Pomeranian duke, who pressured Ulrich to rename it Lanzkron ("Lance's Crown"), which is also in use as an alternative name. [2] Some locals believe that the duke advocated for this name change because of the birth last name of Eli the Prophet, which was Lanzkron.[ citation needed ]
The date of Ulrich von Schwerin's death is unknown. [6] Landskron was inherited by one of his sons, Georg Ernst, who later passed it to his son Ulrich Wigand. [6] The castle deteriorated due to the impact of the Thirty Years' War, during which the villages around Landskron were burned down, and mismanagement. [2] When Georg Ernst died in 1651, Landskron was inherited by his daughter Anna, who married the Swedish noble von Anrieppe [6] (see Swedish Pomerania ). Their daughter Agnes von Anrieppe married Jürgen von Pentz, who soon abandoned Landskron and in 1699 sold it to Philipp von Schwerin, a nephew of Otto von Schwerin, advisor of the Brandenburgian elector, for 13,000 thalers. [6] Philipp von Schwerin did not rebuild the castle, which had further deteriorated during the Scanian War, [5] but moved his residence to nearby Rehberg. [2]
According to local folklore, the nobles at Landskron and the neighboring castles Conerow, Klempenow and Spantekow frequently engaged as robber barons holding up transports between the towns Anklam, Demmin, Friedland, Jarmen and Teterow. [6] Legend tells that they used golden horns to communicate with each other, allegedly confiscated from "Turkish" guards in the age of Barbarossa. [6]
The ruins of the castle have attracted tourists since the 19th century. [5] In 1852, a tavern was built on the ruins of the kitchen building in the courtyard. [5] This building was occupied until the 1960s, but subsequently demolished. [4] Today, it is a tourist attraction and used as a site for concerts and other events. [5]
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania or Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in population, 6th in area, and 16th in population density. Schwerin is the state capital and Rostock is the largest city. Other major cities include Neubrandenburg, Stralsund, Greifswald, Wismar and Güstrow.
Anklam [German pronunciation: [ˈaŋklam](listen)], formerly known as Tanglim and Wendenburg, is a town in the Western Pomerania region of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the banks of the Peene river, just 8 km from its mouth in the Kleines Haff, the western part of the Stettin Lagoon. Anklam has a population of 14,603 (2005) and was the capital of the former Ostvorpommern district. Since September 2011, it has been part of the district of Vorpommern-Greifswald.
Swedish Pomerania was a Dominion under the Swedish Crown from 1630 to 1815, situated on what is now the Baltic coast of Germany and Poland. Following the Polish War and the Thirty Years' War, Sweden held extensive control over the lands on the southern Baltic coast, including Pomerania and parts of Livonia and Prussia.
Demmin is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It was the capital of the former district of Demmin.
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Spantekow is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It comprises the villages Dennin, Drewelow, Fasanenhof, Janow, Japenzin, Neuendorf B, Rehberg, Rebelow and Spantekow.
The Bishopric of Cammin was both a former Roman Catholic diocese in the Duchy of Pomerania from 1140 to 1544, and a secular territory of the Holy Roman Empire (Prince-Bishopric) in the Kolberg (Kołobrzeg) area from 1248 to 1650.
The County of Gützkow was a part of the Duchy of Pomerania during the High Middle Ages (1219–1359), named after the central town of Gützkow and stretching roughly from the Peene River in the South to the Ryck River in the North. It emerged from the earlier Liutician Principality of Gützkow, that was turned into a castellany when subdued by the Dukes of Pomerania. When the last Count of Gützkow died in 1359, the area was turned into a Vogtei, which was merged into Amt Wolgast in the beginning 16th century.
Medieval Pomerania was converted from Slavic paganism to Christianity by Otto von Bamberg in 1124 and 1128, and in 1168 by Absalon.
Groswin was the name-giving seat of one of the castellanies of the Duchy of Pomerania in the High Middle Ages. It was located in Western Pomerania near modern Anklam.
The Duchy of Pomerania-Barth was created from the western possessions on the mainland of the former Principality of Rügen. While the authority of the Duke extended in the west to Recknitz and in the south to Trebel, the duke's actual possessions were concentrated in the region of today's Barth and nearby areas. Other areas belonged to the Neuenkamp monastery and the Hanseatic city of Stralsund.
Ulrich von Schwerin, also spelled Huldrych von Schwerin or Huldricus Schwerinus was Hofmeister in the Duchy of Pomerania-Wolgast and one of the most influential men of his time. He was a member of the noble Schwerin family, who originally came from Mecklenburg.
Bogislaw VI, Duke of Pomerania was duke of Pomerania-Wolgast.
Kyra T. Inachin was a German historian.
The Region of Stralsund belonged to the Prussian Province of Pomerania and existed from 1818 to 1932.
Western Pomerania, also called Hither Pomerania, is the western extremity of the historic region of the Duchy, later Province of Pomerania, nowadays divided between the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Poland.
The Wars of the Rügen Succession were two early 14th century conflicts fought primarily between Mecklenburg and Pomerania for control of the Danish Principality of Rügen on the southern Baltic Sea coast.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany is a Lutheran member church of the Evangelical Church in Germany. It was established on 27 May 2012 as a merger of the North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg, and the Pomeranian Evangelical Church. It covers the combined area of all those former member churches, which are the federal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Nordkirche is the only Landeskirche in Germany which covers parts of both New states of Germany and West Germany. It is also called Nordkirche. It has 1,939,750 members (31/12/2019). There are 1,704 ordained pastors and more than 84,000 volunteers working for Nordkirche (4/2016).
The fortress known as Veste Spantekow is the oldest and most important Renaissance castle in North Germany and is situated in the village of Spantekow, southwest of Anklam in the German federated state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. It covers an area of c. 4 hectares.
Media related to Burg Landskron (Vorpommern) at Wikimedia Commons