Memories from Greifswald, 2018

Greifswald on a rainy Sunday.
I’ve just closed my Swedish grammar book, the last exercise finished, and feel the pull to step outside. I slip a coupIe of books into my backpack and head out, ready for a small trip.

Twenty minutes later, I’m on bus number two, heading East. Our destination lies close to the Danish Wiek, the old fishing village on the Baltic shore.

We pass by rows of beautiful old houses. The streets are almost deserted. Funny how empty this town can get on a rainy Sunday. The bus stops. I cross the street and step into the park on the right side where I finally reach the ruins of Eldena.

Dating back to the 12th century, Eldena Abbey is an imposing construction in Backsteingotik (Brick Gothic), a prominent architecture style around the 13th century in Central Europe and around the Baltic regions. The Abbey was dissolved in 1535 with the arrival of the Reformation in Pomerania.

I remember Eldena from old literature books on gothic literature and the Romantic art movements of the 19th century, where I always found the works of Caspar David Friedrich to be the most mesmerising.

The German Romantic painter Friedrich, born in Greifswald, forever immortalized these ruins in many of his works—perhaps the most famous one being The Abbey in the Oakwood (1809–1810).

Some places stay with you long after you leave. For me, Eldena is one of those. Of all the places I visited during my years in Greifswald, it remains one of the most meaningful ones. A Romantic pearl, still carrying the same decadent beauty that inspired Friedrich centuries ago.

The park is almost empty today, and for a while, I am the only one left here admiring these timeless ruins.

Just for this rainy Sunday, Eldena belongs only to me.