European Route of Brick Gothic

The European Route of Brick Gothic ( " EuRoB ") is a related to the common architectural heritage of Brick Gothic club with members (cities and regions) along the Baltic coasts and inland.

Emerging from initiatives of the German Foundation for Monument Protection, of two European projects and a variety of individual activities involved members includes the European Route of Brick Gothic today cities, regions and buildings, especially from the southern Baltic. In an enlarged Europe national borders play for the first time after many centuries no role for the culturally interested travelers. Thus, the discoverer goals are open on both sides of the borders of Germany. The club members have come together that the value, importance and also of the cultural tourism potential of their brick Gothic buildings are aware of the plan to combine their resources and raise awareness of their cultural heritage in the European public.

The club network comprises a number of medieval brick buildings, particularly monasteries, town halls, city gates, ramparts, churches, cathedrals and other buildings from the Middle Ages to the present-day Denmark, Germany and Poland.

The purpose of the " European Route of Brick Gothic eV " is the promotion of art and culture, science, education and international understanding. The development of a sustainable cultural tourism on the route corresponding to this claim. Objectives of the Association are:

• The maintenance and development of culturally and historically justified European Route of Brick Gothic,
• The collection and documentation of monuments of Brick Gothic along the route,
• The presentation of the history and development of European Brick Gothic architecture and its construction, art and cultural historical context,
• The presentation of the European Route of Brick Gothic architecture and its buildings in the European public,
• The realization of information events in cultural history and associated measures and projects for European Brick Gothic,
• The design and implementation of Weiterbildungsmaßnahmenfür members and prospective European Brick Gothic,
• The implementation of local, regional and international publications, presentations and events for information about the " European Route of Brick Gothic " and involvement of citizens and local actors and
• The development and dissemination of information and qualification of electronic media to European Brick Gothic.

The club was supported in its development by

• The German Association for Housing, Urban and Spatial Development, which closely cooperates today with the European Route of Brick Gothic,
• The Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Housing,
• The Federal Institute for Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development ( BBSR) within the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning,
• The German Foundation for Monument Protection,
• The National Monument Institute, Estonia,
• The state of Mecklenburg -Western Pomerania, which supports the route today.

Within the countries of the Baltic region take part:

• Haderslev (Denmark)
• Anklam, Bad Doberan, Brandenburg, Buxtehude, Greifswald, Güstrow, Lüneburg, Lüneburg monasteries, Bardowick and churches around Lüneburg, Neubrandenburg with Burg Stargard, New Monastery, Parchim, Prenzlau, Ribnitz Damgarten, the island of Rügen, Schleswig, Schwerin, Stendal, Stralsund, Wismar, Wolgast ( Germany )
• Chelmno, Gdansk, Olsztyn, Płock, Sławno, Kamien Pomorski, Stargard, Szczecin, Toruń (Poland )
• Tartu (Estonia).

Splurge house in Stargard ( Stargard in Pomerania ), Poland

Citizens Marktplatz 1 in Greifswald

St. Mary's Church ( Prenzlau )

Stargarder gate in Neubrandenburg

St. Mary's Church in Torun ( Thorn ), Poland

Wismar, Mansion Old Swede

Within the European architecture of Brick Gothic has a special position. Their development is closely linked to the history of the north-west and north-east European countries between the 13th and 16th centuries, the development of the Hanseatic League. In the 13th century, the economic relations between the countries of the Baltic Sea and the Western countries of the modern Netherlands, Belgium and France led to an exchange of cultural developments far into the Baltic.

In the middle of the 13th century attacked the clergy and architects for the church on the Franco- Flemish design scheme of representative Cathedral Basilica. From Lübeck went with the building of St. Mary of the strongest impetus to this type. According to their model large basilicas originated in Wismar, Stralsund, Riga, Malmö or Gniezno. Many Hanseatic cities selected for their main churches the most elaborate, "most noble " type of all Gothic constructions, the three-aisled basilica with a transept, ambulatory and chapels, external buttresses and transepts.

Parallel developed in rural and urban parishes a preference for hall churches who opposed a broadly supported and rectified the longitudinal space, stepped space scheme of the basilicas. The competition of spatial forms " Hall " and " Basilica " unfolded a rich spectrum of variations. The hall churches develop more differentiated floor plans, also with ambulatory and radiating chapels, such as the Marienkirche church in Rostock and Gdansk. In the inland and total since the 15th century, the hall is the dominant building type.

The monastic building activity that targeted either on land or deposited on the spiritual care of the growing cities, depending on the religious goals, leaving behind a number of important churches and monasteries. Since the second half of the 14th century, a wealthy jewelry style that animated especially the gables unfolded. Significant examples are found in Neubrandenburg, Greifswald, Torun and Malbork. Turned profiles " the so-called dew or bar work" put on portals, windows and templates accents. In black, brown or green iridescent glazes revive the wall surfaces, in artistic shapes as a multilayer lattice. In particular, the buildings of the architect Hinrich Brunswick Mountain are characterized by a particularly rich ornamental style. Among the most beautiful designs of the brick building include the star and Schlinggewölbe that originated mainly in the former Prussian land since the late 13th century. In Lithuania, a late Gothic style coined out of one of the most expressive variations of Brick Gothic. The masterpiece of this period is the ensemble of the Church of St. Anne and St. Bernharduskirche in Vilnius who have close parallels to the Flemish Brick Gothic.

Although the cities and regions competed politically and economically, convinced the common architectural language of a coordinated cultural understanding. Even today, the visitor experiences the buildings as something familiar and new at the same time. The identity function of the buildings across borders, formerly motivated by religious and economic reasons, continues to the present and is a central idea of the European Route of Brick Gothic. The common culture can be read up to now best illustrated by the architecture of the Hanseatic cities. The large cathedral and city churches dominate the silhouettes. Representative town halls with decorative facades show originated as an expression of economic self- consciousness. Ramparts and city gates are isolated as a closed ensemble, but mostly as a single large towers or gates. Gothic residential and commercial buildings with characteristic stepped gables are evidence of the claim and self-confidence of economic bourgeoisie.

The European Route of Brick Gothic combines all that and opened delightful insight into a cultural heritage that is often still terra incognita, waiting to be discovered.