NEW MARKET SQUARE (NEUER MARKT)

With its combination of beautiful historic buildings and communist-era construction, New Market Square has been Rostock’s central gathering point for centuries. If you take the tram from the main train station, you’ll travel right through the New Market just as the tram has been doing since 1881.

Originally there were three separate towns – the old, middle, and new town. In 1265 these three towns merged and what is now New Market Square became the economic centre of medieval Rostock. Its town hall became the town hall for the whole town and Marienkirche became the main parish church, which you can see towering over the narrow streets near the square.

The New Market is also one of three former marketplaces in the Hanseatic city. It is next to what was the “Old Market” and the “Hop Market”, which today is University Square at the other end of Kröpeliner Straße (Kropeliner Street).

This cobblestoned square is lined with Renaissance-era gabled merchant houses and is full of historic charm, along with some art pieces such as a fountain in the middle that depicts Neptune and his four sons. Sadly, during the Allied bombing of WWII, the houses along the south side were completely destroyed, along with some on the north side, so there aren’t as many houses as there once were.

Some of the houses have been restored and others completely rebuilt in a simpler style than their predecessors. Today the lovely pastel facades, including that of Rats Apotheke (pharmacy) that was founded in 1260, are as pretty as a postcard, so make sure you have your camera at the ready.

From Monday to Saturday, you’re likely to find the farmer’s market in full swing in the square. You could browse the stalls selling fruits, vegetables, crafts, and prepared foods. Perhaps this is the place to pick up lunch or a snack or a souvenir of your visit to Rostock.

Reviews of the New Market Square (Neuer Markt)  |  18055 Rostock, Germany

TOWN HALL (RATHAUS)

With its pink baroque façade, the Town Hall (Rathaus) is hard to miss along the edge of New Market Square. It’s easily the prettiest Town Hall we’ve seen, as our many, many photos of it will attest to.

Damaged by a storm, the façade was replaced in the 18th-century, but this is one of the oldest town halls in Germany. Underneath the façade is actually a wonderful 13th-century Gothic building! To see its Gothic elements, you’ll need to walk around the back of the building. Out front, however, the Rathaus has seven slender, decorative towers that look like candles on a cake.

In the past, a court was held in the middle of the square in front of the town hall and there was a ‘kaak’ (pillory/stake) where they burned witches. Today, however, the square is a much friendlier place to spend some time, especially during market hours.

If you’re looking for a little luck, local lore says you should pet the head of the snake sculpture that guards the entrance. The snake in place today isn’t actually very old (c.1998) but there has been a snake here in some form since the 1800s. It may have been a symbol of wisdom or perhaps a way of measuring eels at the market. Either way, it can’t hurt to give the snake a little pet on your way by!

Reviews of the Rathaus (Town Hall)  |  Neuer Markt 1a, 18055,  Rostock, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania Germany

KRÖPELINER STRASSE

Running between New Market Square to University Square, you’ll find the lively pedestrian-only street lined with pretty shops and cafés called Kröpeliner Strasse. Until 1964 a tram drove along this street, but the tracks were moved to Lange Strasse and the street was declared a car-free zone.

These old houses herald the age when Rostock was blessed with Hanseatic prosperity. One house, in particular, of a wealthy merchant from the 1600s, features ornamental friezes made of shaped bricks and medallions with biblical relieves that decorate its richly structured façade.

Take your time strolling this pretty street, perhaps stopping for a coffee in one of their cafés or popping into some of the shops to buy a little something to remember your visit to Rostock.

Reviews of Kröpeliner Strasse |  Kropeliner Strasse, 18055, Rostock, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania Germany

UNIVERSITÄTSPLATZ (UNIVERSITY SQUARE)

Halfway between New Market Square and the Kröpeliner Tor on Kröpeliner Strasse you’ll come to the pretty University Square (Universitätsplatz) with several features that you’ll want to have your camera ready for.

The centrepiece of the square is a fountain created by Jo Jastram and Reinhard Dietrich called “Der Brunnen der Lebensfreude” (“Fountain of Joy”). The fountain features 20 bronze sculptures of animals and people amongst 18 water jets. It is a bit odd because it displays an unusual lightheartedness despite the communist era in which it was created. In the summer it is full of activity as a popular meeting place, a space for chatting with friends on the benches around its perimeter, or as a place to cool off in the summer for local children.

And finally, you won’t be able to miss the gorgeous main building of the University of Rostock that sits behind the fountain. The square commemorates the founding of one of northern Europe’s oldest universities here in 1419, and today is home to the university’s Italian Renaissance-style main building that was finished in 1867. You’ll find both these dates on the façade along with some statues of the dukes of Mecklenburg.

If you visit Rostock during the Christmas season, you’ll find both the ‘Kröpi’ and University Square decorated with illuminated merchant houses, festive music and wonderful smells in the air, and stalls with gifts and delicious treats to try.

Reviews of University Square |  Universitaetsplatz 1, 18055, Rostock, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania Germany

ROSTOCK’S CHURCHES

In the Middle Ages there were seven church towers gracing Rostock’s skyline, but today only four remain. One church, the Holy Cross Monastery, is part of the theological faculty at Rostock University, and the others are described below.

MARIENKIRCHE (ST. MARY’S CHURCH)

For more than 770 years, St. Mary’s Church has been a place of worship, civil and academic meetings, and a place of the arts in the centre of Rostock. It is the largest church in the city, and one of the largest brickstone Gothic churches in the whole Baltic region.

Miraculously it wasn’t impacted too much by the WWII bombs that destroyed much of nearby Neuer Markt (New Market Square) and today it welcomes about 150,000 people each year, whether or not they are part of the Christian faith.

Visitors come to see such highlights as its intricately decorated 13th-century bronze baptismal font, the striking stained-glass window from 1904 called “Christ as Judge of the World”, and the Renaissance pulpit from 1574 which was the first item of decoration to be installed in the church after the Reformation.

Perhaps though it is most known for its huge 15th-century astronomical clock, which is what attracted us to visit during our time in Rostock. The clock still has its original parts and each day at noon you can watch the “Apostles’ Procession” where six figures move solemnly past Christ. In the middle is a clock with the zodiac, moon phases, and month and at the bottom is a calendar.

After watching the clock at noon, you can pop into their on-site café which is run by friendly volunteers for coffee, tea, and a delicious homemade cake.

Reviews of Marienkirsche (St. Mary’s Church)  | AM Ziegenmarkt 4, 18055, Rostock, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania Germany

PETRIKIRCHE (ST. PETER’S CHURCH)

In the northeastern corner of town, overlooking the Alte Markt (Old Market Square), you’ll find Petrikirche which is the oldest of the three churches in this guide. Between 1234 -1252 there was a wooden parish church on this site, but nothing has survived from this initial church. The brick Gothic church that stands today was started in the middle of the 14th-century and completed in the early 15th-century. The 400 ft tower was added many decades after the church was built, can be seen from around the city, and became a handy seamark for sailors and fishermen.

The interior is a simple, Lutheran design that is light and airy. There is a beautiful (and very tall!) stained-glass window above the altar and models of ships hang from the ceiling as a nod to Rostock’s maritime ties.

For us though, the highlight of our visit wasn’t what we could see in the church, but rather what we could see from the church, specifically from its tower! For a nominal fee (or climbing 196 steps), you can take the elevator up 150 feet up the tower to the observation gallery for spectacular views across Rostock. Some people mention that there is wire mesh surrounding the gallery that obstructed their views, but we didn’t find that to be an issue. There are holes cut out of the mesh on all sides of the tower that you can look through or poke your camera through for some great photos. From the tower, you can see all the way across the pretty orange rooftops to the Port of Rostock, along the river, and to St. Mary’s Church (Marienkirche) several blocks away.

Reviews of Petrikirche (St. Peter’s Church)  |  Alter Markt, 18055, Rostock, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania Germany

NIKOLAIKIRCHE (ST. NICHOLAS CHURCH)

Built in the 13th= century in the centre of the Slavic settlement area of medieval Rostock, Nikolaikirche originally was a Gothic hall with four brick bays, but neither a tower nor a choir. A 400 ft tower was later added, but unfortunately, it collapsed in the 17th-century, likely during a storm. It was then severely damaged in a bombing raid in 1942 when the nave and tower were destroyed, leaving only the choir undamaged.

The building was later reconstructed during the communist period when the atheistic regime converted part of the church into an apartment complex where people still live today. Although a good portion of the building has been reclaimed for religious services, if you go to the front door, you’ll find the doorbells for the people who live there!

Although usually closed to the public, it’s worth the short walk east from New Market Square to see the unique roofline of this church.

Reviews of Nikolaikirche  |  Bei der Nikolaikirche 1, 18055 Rostock, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania Germany

KULTURHISTORISCHES MUSEUM (CULTURAL HISTORY MUSEUM)

History lovers will want to take some time during their visit to Rostock to visit the Cultural History Museum (Kulturhistorisches Museum) that is tucked away on a little street. Since 1984 the museum has been housed in the 13th-century historic monastery of the Holy Cross, but as an institution, the museum dates back much further to 1859. It is considered to be one of the foremost museums in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

The museum has a fine collection of items which include exhibits of local artifacts, a town model, portraits of important people in the city’s history. Drawing on its religious past, one of the most intriguing exhibitions is sacred art from Rostock’s religious buildings dating from the Middle Ages to the 16th-century. There is also Dutch Renaissance and Baroque art, a series of landscapes of Rostock from different times in its past, and some modern art labelled as “degenerate” by the Nazis!

The museum is free to visit, but unfortunately, if your ship is in port on Monday the museum will be closed. You may need to put your bag in one of the lockers and there is a small fee if you want to take photos inside the museum, so have a few euros on hand.

TIP: If you don’t speak German, download the Google Translate app AND the language so you can use the app offline. This will allow you to talk to locals either by typing or talking (depending on the language you’re translating to) into the app. It’s easy to use and works great to thank people that have helped you along the way.

Reviews of the the Cultural History Museum (Das Kulturhistorishe Museum)  |  Klosterhof 7, 18055, Rostock, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Germany

STASI PRE-TRIAL PRISON

If you are interested in Cold War history, this former prison block has been converted into a museum provides a chance to better understand some of Rostock’s darker days with state oppression during the days of the GDR.

From 1960 to 1989 this prison held a total of 4,800 people (110 people at a time) who were accused of crimes against the state. These crimes ranged from participating in protests to attempting to flee the country to simply telling jokes about the regime. It was thought to be a pre-trial prison, but some people were held for months (some as many as 18 months) where they were housed in small cells with almost no sunlight and prevented from knowing where they were.

Photo Credit: Marcus Sümnick / CC BY-SA 2.0

Today visitors can walk through the actual prison to see the cells, some of which hold exhibits about the Stasi, their methods, and their crimes, while other cells are preserved as they were when they held prisoners. There are English explanations and an audio-guide.

The building is tucked away in a residential area and is a bit tricky to find so make sure you follow a map or navigation program, like Google Maps or Here WeGo, to make it easier to find.

Reviews of the Stasi Pre-Trial Prison |  Hermannstrasse 34b, 18055, Rostock, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Germany

SCHIFFFAHRTSMUSEUM (SHIPPING MUSEUM)

Rostock’s shipbuilding traditions go back to Slavic origins which you can learn all about in the city’s Maritime Museum that has been housed in the former cargo ship, the Dresden, a 10,000-ton freighter since the 1970s.

Today the ship is docked on the banks of the Warnow in the IGA Park which includes a maritime-themed park dotted with heavy-duty shipbuilding artifacts, like a steam hammer from one of Rostock’s former shipyards.

Photo Credit: Torsten Maue / CC BY-SA 2.0

Visitors can step back in time to learn about the maritime industry through different phases of the city’s past, like the GDR when Rostock was East Germany’s main container hub. There are exhibits on the history of maritime radio, marine research in the Baltic, and the future of shipping and shipbuilding industries with next exhibitions constantly in the works.

Let the audio guide lead you through the ship where time seems to have stood still on the main deck. Here the crew cabins, washrooms, galley, and ship’s service rooms retain their original furnishings and give a glimpse into what life was like onboard the Dresden.

This is also one of the best places to visit in Rostock with children. There are some themed tours, hands-on activities, models of ships that children seem particularly interested in, and the “Miniport”, where visitors young (and old) are allowed to captain model ships steering them around the water.

Reviews of Schifffahrtsmuseum |  Schmarl-Dorf 40 IGS Park, 18106, Rostock, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania Germany

RESOURCES | PLAN YOUR TRIP TO GERMANY

• Learn the fascinating royal history of 25 of Germany’s best castles and the compelling personal stories of the families that lived in them.
• For all things Germany, you can’t go wrong with Rick Steves! Check out his Germany travel guide, full episodes of his TV show, or download his app for excellent audio tours.