Hagenow’s cultural profile ranges from the history of the former Jewish community and collections on everyday culture to distinctive buildings and a cycling tour with visits to churches. These highlights can be clearly distinguished when planning your trip: exhibitions and collections offer topics for a cultural and historical perspective, while architecture and a countryside excursion offer different ways to explore.
Jewish life and regional everyday culture
The complex of buildings belonging to Hagenow’s former Jewish community comprises the synagogue, built in 1828, a religious school, and a ritual bath, the mikveh. The three components show that the complex encompasses more than a single building. It offers a tangible starting point for exploring the history of the former community.
Since November 2010, the permanent exhibition “Traces of Jewish Life in Hagenow and West Mecklenburg” has been on display at the Hanna Meinungen House. Its subject extends beyond the town and explicitly includes West Mecklenburg. Alongside the complex of the former community, the exhibition also focuses on the Jewish history of the wider region and its connection to Hagenow.
The Museum of Everyday Culture of the GRIESEN GEGEND offers a different perspective. Its collections comprise several thousand objects relating to the town’s history, crafts, and the folklore of southwestern Mecklenburg. A key focus is the Jabelheide folklore collection from the villages in the heart of the Griesen Gegend. This brings several historical themes together: Jewish life in Hagenow and West Mecklenburg, as well as town history, crafts, and folklore in the museum’s collections.
Buildings from different periods
Hagenow Water Tower is a brick building with Gothic windows and was constructed between 1905 and 1908. Hagenow’s smallest house is a side-passage gable house at Königsstraße 15. According to the inscription on its beam, it was built in 1751 and renovated in 1993. These two buildings highlight different architectural styles and periods: the house, dating from the 18th century and renovated in 1993, and the water tower, built between 1905 and 1908. Those interested in architectural history can explore different building types and periods in Hagenow.
By bicycle to two churches
The Hagenow Countryside Tour is a cycling route that starts at Rathausplatz in Hagenow and ends in Hagenow with visits to St. Elisabeth Catholic Church and the Protestant town church. This offers a different focus from the exhibitions and collections: here, a cycling route links two churches of different denominations. This gives you a clear choice when planning your trip—between focusing on museums, collections, and architectural history, or taking a cycling tour that ends with visits to churches.
More highlights in the wider destination of Ludwigslust-Parchim
The wider destination of Ludwigslust-Parchim also offers distinct historical highlights. Ludwigslust Palace was the former residence of the Dukes of Mecklenburg and, together with its park and town, forms an ensemble known as the “Versailles of the North.” At the same time, the palace is the focal point of an almost completely preserved late Baroque town layout, with a former court church and an English-style landscaped park. The palace presents art and courtly domestic culture from the 18th and early 19th centuries.
The Dömitz Citadel offers a different form of historic architecture: a Renaissance fortress laid out on the Italian model in the shape of a pentagon, with bastions, casemates, and a drawbridge. As a natural highlight, the calcareous fen near Zarrentin is part of the Schaalelauf Nature Reserve. Visitors can explore the fen from the nature trail. Here, the palace, fortress, and fen represent different themes within the wider destination of Ludwigslust-Parchim.
Discover more destinations: Goldberg-Mildenitz Office, Hagenow-Land Office, Crivitz Office, Grabow Office, Boizenburg/Elbe, Sternberger Seenlandschaft Office, Boizenburg-Land Office, Eldenburg Lübz Office
To the overview of the wider destination: Ludwigslust-Parchim.
