The St. Mary’s Church of Loitz – A Baroque Perspective
History
The origins of St. Mary’s date back to a wooden construction of the 12th century. One century later, the building was changed into a two yoke church build of fieldstones, which was extended during the following 200 years.
During the regency of Sophia Hedwig (1561-1631), Duchess of Pomerania-Wolgast, the church of Loitz was enlarged by three more yokes in 1600 and a extension of the spire took place in 1621. At the beginning of the 19th century the spire was also crowned by a cathedral shaped top with an open worked bonnet.
The interior is dominated by two major works of art: The original altar in completely Baroque style from the 1720´s, made by Elias Keßler (app. 1685-1730) is as impressive as the pulpit. The pulpit was built in 1811 by Johann Gottfried Quistorp, architect of the University of Greifswald who also restored the altar in the same year.
Loitz during the 17th and 18th century
During the regency of Sophia Hedwig, the cultural prosperity of Loitz grew. At the end of the 1620´s, however, the region lost its meaning due to the Thirty Years’ War. Imperial and Swedish troops occupied the town several times, followed by heavy havoc at the end of war. In 1648 Loitz became Swedish. For the next 80 years Loitz couldn´t really recover, due to disastrous fire in October 1701 and the Great Northern War.
The decay of the castle, which was built during the Renaissance, can be seen as an exemplary process. Only when the Great Northern War ended, the population of Loitz started slowly to recover. Indicators of prosperity are the new city gates and the restoration of the wall in 1734 as well as commission of an Altar of the church.
Altar of the Church of St. Mary’s Church
Due to the damages caused by the Napoleon wars, Johann Gottfried Quistorp repaired the altar of the church with the result that the appearance does no longer completely represent the baroque style. The glory, vases and bowls for example were crafted by an local artisan as well as the two paintings (ascension and interment of Christ) made by the Greifswalder painter changed the style. Nevertheless baroque is visible in the evangelist-figure.
The original altar was probability made carried by Elias Keßler, the most popular sculptor of the Region. He started his work in 1724 and finished it one year later. The backplane stands on a socket, carrying two corinthian pillars which themselves carry the beams. Typical for the Works of Elias Keßler are the seated figures of Moses and Aaron, which could be seen on the Garzer Altar and perhaps also on the original Loitzer altar. Angels similar to those of the Altar by Andreas Schlüter in the Church of St. Nikolai Stralsund were probably placed here today the vases can be seen. The painting of the ascension of Christi replaced the original plastic glory. Finally the altar is crowned by a sculpture of the ascending Christ. The four evangelists can be easily identified as (from left to right): Mathew the angel, Mark the lion, Luke the bull and John the eagle.