Schwerin Cathedral

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in German. (January 2012) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the German article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at [[:de:Schweriner Dom]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|de|Schweriner Dom}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Schwerin Cathedral
Cathedral seen from Pfaffenteich
Religion
Affiliation	Evangelical Lutheran (Roman Catholic until 1524)
Status	Active
Location
Shown within Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Show map of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Schwerin Cathedral (Germany) Show map of Germany
Geographic coordinates	53°37′47″N 11°24′53″E / 53.62972°N 11.41472°E / 53.62972; 11.41472

Schwerin Cathedral (German: Schweriner Dom) is an Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral located in the town of Schwerin, Germany. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Saint John. Along with St. Mary's Church, Lübeck and St. Nicholas' Church, Stralsund, it is one of the earliest large examples of Brick Gothic architecture.^[1]

It was built following the move here of the seat of the Bishopric of the Abodrites, established by Henry the Lion, from the old city of Mecklenburg in the late 12th century. The first cathedral was built of timber. The foundation stone of the stone cathedral of the Prince-Bishopric of Schwerin was laid in 1172. After a construction period of seventy-six years, it was consecrated in 1248. During the Reformation in 1524, it was confiscated from the Catholic Church and given to the Lutherans.^[2] It is now the seat of the Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg.

In 1222 Count Henry of Schwerin returned from the Fifth Crusade with a reliquary of the Holy Blood, an alleged drop of Christ's blood contained in a jewel. This was placed in the cathedral, and caused it to become a place of pilgrimage.

During the 14th century the nave and transept were completed, as well as the chapter buildings. At the end of the 15th century the cloister on the north side was finished.

The tower, 117.5 metres high, was constructed between 1889 and 1893. It is the tallest church spire in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.^[3]