Churches - Jewels of Ostfriesland
The churches from the Middle Ages are the great jewels of Ostfriesland. One particularity are the many romantic village churches. Granite boulders from the Ice Age were found and used to make ashlars for the construction of the churches. But in the marsh and moor area lacking in stone, they had to import tuff from the Eifel by ship. Then, monks brought their know-how into our country – not just for brick stone manufacturing. Widely traveled artists followed, which decorated our churches. And soon every village then wanted to have its own church – there was a real “sacral construction boom”. But the period also reminds of the piety, the prosperity and the self-confidence of our rural communities. Today, we lovingly call the churches our “islands of silence”, as this is what they really are.
Church in Hinte-Suurhusen
World Record! The most leaning tower of the world is not the Pisa one, but one located at Suurhusen! It's obvious for anyone coming closer to the town via the bypass road. The tower of Pisa inclined by 3,97 degrees, whereas the inclination of this tower it 5,07 degrees.
Church in Krummhörn-Pilsum
As single-nave church on cruciform plan with an enormous crossing tower, the church of Pilsum stands tall over the houses built on the village dwelling mount.
Church in Schortens-Sillenstede
Today, Sillenstede is situated in the middle of the marsh. At the time of building the church, the border of the Geest still did not have a protecting foreland, and so they dedicated the Romance church which was constructed in the middle of the 12th century on a very high dwelling mount.
Church in Bad Zwischenahn
The church is situated at the brink, the churchyard of which reaches the bank of the Zwischenahner Meer. Its origins provably go back to the end of the 12th century. At first, the gate tower attracts attention, lodging the bells.
