Discover Melz: Lake, village church and Bronze Age hoard

A river lake, a historic village church and an extraordinary Bronze Age find give Melz a varied character. Old oak trees and traces of the former estate are also part of the village’s story. This offers different areas of interest when planning your trip: you may be interested in the landscape, architectural history or archaeological past, and can take these themes into account when choosing accommodation in Melz.

Melzer See and its surroundings

Melzer See lies east of Melz, near Röbel. It is a river lake on the upper reaches of the Elde; the Elde serves as both its inflow and outflow. The lake is therefore not just a body of water in the landscape, but is also shaped by its connection to the river. Those interested in nature around Melz will also find notable trees: the area around the lake is home to numerous oaks with a trunk circumference of more than five metres.

A group of oaks on the road from Friedrichshof to Karbow is protected as a natural monument. The largest oak in the group has a circumference of 5.90 metres. This figure illustrates the size of the individual tree and adds a specific natural monument to the picture of the numerous oaks around the lake.

Village church, hoard and estate history

Melz village church was rebuilt in 1816 by the estate owner and patron at the time, Friedrich August von Ferber. Extensive restoration work on the church had been carried out by 2016, largely repairing the structural damage that had developed in the preceding years. The village’s architectural history is thus connected with a later chapter in the preservation of the building.

The Melz hoard opens a window onto a different period. In autumn 1970, a unique 14-piece bronze treasure was recovered from the Zehnten-Wiese meadow in Melz-Friedrichshof. The find is one of the largest archaeological treasures in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Today, the treasure is on display in Schwerin, but the story of its discovery leads back to Melz-Friedrichshof.

A further story is associated with part of the Zehnten-Wiese meadow: according to tradition, nine chiefs are said to have buried their insignia of rank there. This should be understood as a tradition; it adds a narrated interpretation to the site’s archaeological history, without the two needing to be equated.

Traces of the former Melz estate have also survived. After the manor house burned down in 1945, a stable, sections of the estate wall and fragments of a park remained. Together with the village church and the story of the find, these remains show different aspects of the village’s history, from architectural development to the surviving traces of the estate.

Routes and nature in the wider travel region

For route planning, the Ice Age Route from Fürstenberg/Havel to Röbel/Müritz passes through Buchholz, Kieve, Melz, Karbow and Bollewick. Melz is therefore one of the places included on this long-distance route.

For a broader travel itinerary, it is also worth considering the Mecklenburg Lake District as a wider destination. The Müritz National Park is located there, in a landscape shaped by forests, marshes, lakes and wide meadows. The Müritz National Park hiking trail covers a variety of landscape types and features of the park over nine stages: it runs along lakes, through ancient forests, past inland dunes and to the source of the Havel. Certified nature and landscape guides offer informative tours there, including guided walks in the Serrahn UNESCO World Heritage beech forest and tours from the water. These are standalone nature and tour experiences in the Mecklenburg Lake District, not features of Melz.

If you are looking for accommodation in Melz, consider whether the lake, village church and local history fit the focus of your trip. If you also want to visit Müritz National Park, include it as a separate destination in your plans for the Mecklenburg Lake District. This lets you choose a location based on the themes you want to explore, without confusing Melz’s local attractions with those of the wider travel region.

Discover more destinations

Discover more destinations: Vipperow, Gotthun, Zepkow, Buchholz, Wredenhagen, Fincken, Grabow-Below, Ludorf.

Go to the overview of the wider travel region: Amt Röbel-Müritz.