Tom`s travels: Güstrow (04/11/2018)

After planning to head once more north into Schleswig Holstein, I figured out we had bought the wrong ticket and so had to switch trains and direction and head east into Mecklenburg Vorpommern. After reaching the town of Güstrow, we headed towards the city center and had a quick look at the Chapel of St Gertrude. Built right outside what were once the city walls, this Gothic 14th-century chapel sits in a nice setting surrounded by a little park. A sculpture exhibition was organized in its premises so we decided to skip the visit as it involved buying a ticket. We then headed towards the center and stopped by the Cathedral to check it out. Unfortunately, it was closed so we decided to head further and reached the Marktplatz right after. At its center stands the church of St Mary which we decided to visit. Built around the 14th century, the original building burned to the ground and was substituted by another structure a century later. It was then highly refurbished and restored around the 19th century giving it its present brick gothic style. Walking around the interior we admired the nice wooden winged altar of 1522 and then headed climbed the 53m bell tower. Once up there we had a nice 360° view of the old town despite the cloudy weather. Once back down, we then walked through the main square and admired the nice gabled tenement houses covering its perimeter. Then through the streets, we reached the Cathedral once more and luckily found it had reopened. Even though called "Dom" it is actually not a cathedral as the bishop's seat is located elsewhere. Built in 1335 it features a typical brick gothic structure which a large central nave and some Romanesque features from its beginnings. We admired the nice interior particularly focusing on the late gothic winged gilded altar, a beautiful 16th-century renaissance monument do Duke Ulrich and a flying apostle figure statue modeled in 1927 hanging above the 18th-century cast-iron baptismal font. After visiting the church we then headed a little further and reached the city's main attraction: the Güstrow Palace. This castle-palace was built in 1558 for Ulrich, duke of Mecklenburg, the same one buried inside the Dom. Refurbished the following century it features a beautiful mix of Renaissance and Baroque styles. We bought the entry ticket and then proceeded to tour the interior. The lower rooms featured art from the early gothic to the renaissance period with several gothic altars to exhibit. The upper rooms featured paintings from the 16th century onwards including some from Montagna, Palma il Giovane and Tintoretto. Among the many rooms, one which caught our attention was the one which was used as a banquet hall and decorated with interesting stuccos consisting of hunting scenes where the animals actually featured real deer horns embedded into the ceiling. Once the visit was complete we decided to head back to the station from where we took the next ride back to Hamburg.