Hagenow: Jewish Heritage, City History and Culture

Explore Hagenow through its traces of Jewish life, city history and museums. You’ll also find buildings with very different stories, and a cycling tour that starts and ends in Hagenow.

Cultural Traces and Buildings in Hagenow

The complex of buildings belonging to Hagenow’s former Jewish community includes the synagogue, built in 1828, a religious school and a ritual bath, or mikveh. Since November 2010, the permanent exhibition “Traces of Jewish Life in Hagenow and West Mecklenburg” has been on display in the Hanna Meinungen House. Together, these places and the exhibition offer different ways to explore Jewish life in Hagenow and West Mecklenburg.

The Museum of Everyday Culture of the GRIESEN GEGEND focuses on a different subject. Its collections include several thousand objects relating to the history of the town, crafts and the folk culture of southwest Mecklenburg. The Jabelheide folk culture collection holds a special place. It comes from the villages in the heart of the Griesen Gegend. Those interested in everyday culture will find a different subject here from the exhibition on Jewish history.

The buildings also offer specific details that reveal different periods. Hagenow Water Tower is a brick building with Gothic windows, constructed between 1905 and 1908. Hagenow’s smallest house, at Königsstraße 15, is a side-hall gable house. According to the inscription on its beam, it was built in 1751 and renovated in 1993. The construction and renovation dates offer two different points of reference for the house; for the water tower, the focus is instead on its construction, window style and date of construction.

Discover Hagenow by Bike

The Hagenow Countryside Tour is a cycling route that begins at Rathausplatz in Hagenow. It ends in Hagenow with a visit to the Catholic Church of St. Elisabeth and the Protestant town church. The tour adds a cycling activity to the historical and museum-related themes. As you plan your days, consider whether you’d rather focus on individual cultural sites or also include this tour in your plans.

To explore other regional cultural or nature-related themes, include the wider Ludwigslust-Parchim destination in your search. The destinations and attractions below are examples from this wider destination, not additional features of Hagenow.

More to Explore in the Wider Ludwigslust-Parchim Destination

Ludwigslust Palace was the former residence of the Mecklenburg dukes. Together with its park and the town, it forms an ensemble known as the “Little Versailles of the North.” The palace is also the centrepiece of an almost entirely preserved late Baroque town complex, with a former court church and an English-style landscape park. The palace presents art and courtly domestic culture from the 18th and early 19th centuries. In Ludwigslust, the history of the ducal residence, the town layout, the park and the museum themes can all be explored side by side.

Dömitz offers another cultural focus: the museum in the fortress covers the history of the fortress and town, the history of the Elbe, harbour and bridges, Fritz Reuter, as well as special and art exhibitions. Dömitz Citadel is a Renaissance fortress laid out on the Italian model, in the shape of a pentagon with bastions, casemates and a drawbridge. These architectural details distinguish the fortress from the collections and buildings that define Hagenow itself.

Zarrentin Monastery offers several ways to explore history: its ground floor houses a permanent exhibition about the monastery, and guided tours cover the history of the former Cistercian convent, the lives of the nuns and the building’s architecture. Check the current arrangements before travelling for a tour or visit. Nature lovers can explore the calcareous fen near Zarrentin from the nature trail; the fen is part of the Schaalelauf Nature Reserve.

For a different kind of outing, try water sports: water sports are practised on the Müritz-Elde Waterway in the Ludwigslust-Parchim district. Dömitz has its own harbour, with moorings for all kinds of watercraft used for water sports. Passenger boat services operated by the Heckert shipping company also run from Dömitz; check the timetable in advance.

Discover More Destinations

Discover more destinations: Goldenstädt, Amt Goldberg-Mildenitz, Amt Stralendorf, Amt Hagenow-Land, Amt Zarrentin, Amt Grabow, Amt Boizenburg-Land, Boizenburg/Elbe.

Back to the wider travel overview: Ludwigslust-Parchim.