The second and final stop on our tour at the end of March 2021 was an abandoned manor house. We had discovered it more or less by chance the evening before, while looking for abandoned places in the surrounding area. The manor, which is now in a very dilapidated condition, consists of three sections. The main building dates back to the late 17th century and was built on even older walls. The extensions were added in the mid-19th and early 20th centuries.
Architecturally, the building therefore represents the development of Mecklenburg manor houses over several centuries, which makes it quite special in itself.
It took us about an hour to drive there from the brickworks we had visited earlier, but the journey also brought us considerably closer to our accommodation, so we were already heading in the right direction.
The manor is located on the edge of a very small village between two lakes. There were no inconspicuous parking spots nearby, so we had no choice but to park directly opposite the manor. We simply hoped that nobody would pass by, or that anyone who did would assume we were heading for a walk in the nearby park.
The manor was not fenced off, and we were able to enter the grounds without any problems. It looked as though the vegetation around the building had been cleared relatively recently. The grounds were neatly cleared, and there were tire tracks from agricultural machinery. Of course, the lack of dense vegetation meant that we could not approach under cover and had to move quickly, hoping to remain unnoticed. On the other hand, it also made finding an entrance surprisingly easy: an open basement vault provided access to the ground floor.
We reached the grand entrance hall via a staircase and two rather dilapidated small rooms. The hall was divided into two areas: the large entrance section, with a wide staircase leading to the first floor, and the “Great Hall”, featuring an ornate ceiling, heavy wooden doors and a locked entrance leading towards the garden and park.
On the first floor, directly above the hall, was another large room with a dark wooden coffered ceiling. Several corridors branched off from this room, leading to numerous smaller rooms.
It was impossible to miss that the building had undergone many additions and alterations over the centuries. This was particularly evident in some rather unfortunate modifications made during the GDR era, when the manor was used as a refugee home, village shop, nursery and residential building. Walls had been added, others removed, and in some areas it was difficult to tell which part of the manor we were actually standing in.
There were almost no remnants in the form of furniture, documents or similar items. Nevertheless, there were still some interesting details to discover, including an intricately designed curved iron staircase, heavy wooden doors, stained-glass windows and empty bottles of various herbal liqueurs - although those clearly dated from the period after German reunification.
Simply because of its size, we spent a long time exploring the old building, making sure we had seen all of its rooms. Looking back, the most interesting aspect was undoubtedly being able to recognize the different periods in which various parts of the manor had been built or modified.
Since we had never heard of the manor before our visit and had not seen any photographs of it, we had no great expectations for the exploration. But I think it was definitely worth it!
To find out more about the history and to check out all the photos from this place, click the button below.
