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LEVENHAGEN CEMETERY |
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by Sandy Leven. LEVENHAGEN CEMETERY En Route from Rostock to Peenemunde, in Mecklenburg Western Pommerania in the north of Germany we drove into a village called Levenhagen. Translated this seems to 'Leven's Town'. Perhaps some of the Leven clan hailed from here many yonks ago! It is not a very big place. It is too small for most maps. It is close to the shield on the map here. 
MAP However at the Eastern end of the village there is a unique church. The church is built half in wood and half in brick [backstein]. 
CHURCH Levenhagen sits in that part of Germany, which used to East Germany. As such, like many villages there, it has not been built up and turned into a small town, like so many agricultural villages in West Germany. The cities of Rostock, Schwerein etc are beautiful. They have modern hotels and shops. Schwerein castle will be the home of the parliament for this part of germany. Might we not have put our parliament in a restored Linlithgow palace? 
SCHWEREIN CASTLE Since it is just a bit over 10 years since Germany was reunited, there is still a lot of building and reconstruction going on. Many country towns are delightful in that they are original. Any way back to the church, the Marienkapelle or Santa Maria Chapel in Levenshagen. A picture in the notice board depicted the grounds in spring when there is a carpet of Snowflakes, Leucojum vernum. 
BOARD When we visited in July, the leucojums were long dormant. From the rock gardener's point of view it is the use of dwarf shrubs, especially dwarf conifers, that is interesting. Most of the graves in the churchyard were outlined with dwarf box hedges. 
BOX HEDGED GRAVES Normal green box, golden and variegated box were used. Inside the box enclosures you can find an array of junipers and chamaecyparis. I looked for dwarf pines but for some reason they seemed to be absent. Some featured bright plants like dahlias and salvias but in the main these bright flowers were sparsely used. One grave had a magnificent teasel! Design or Happenchance? Another had a green cordaline looking plant. 
TEASEL The churchyard is a beautiful tranquil oasis on the wooded edge of small hamlet on the North German Plain. It is a long way from Scotland but everything except the church design is familiar. At one corner of the cemetery sits the tiny ancient chapel of Santa Maria. 
CHAPEL It dates back to the middle of the 15th century and there may have been an even older building on the site. It was reported that the Virgin Mary appeared to a man who was unworthy to take Holy Communion. This caused the villagers to build a wooden chapel on the site. The chapel was decorated with a wooden figure of the virgin. Today the chapel is bare indeed. 
CHAPEL INSIDE If you pass this way, stop for a while and sit in the churchyard. There seem to be few tourists. In Germany one is aware of all the damage caused by bombs and war, whether because of rebuilding or jarringly modern buildings in ancient city streets. Peenemunde home of the V1 and V2 rockets is just a 50 miles west of Levenshagen. 
V2 ROCKET Poland is just beyond that. At the moment you are at the eastern extremity of the EU. It is good to feel familiar in a distant place. 
CHURCH This cemetery is not a wasteland like some of those at home. It will look good all year round with its evergreen shrubs. I would love to see it in spring with all the snowflakes in flower. |