The church of St. Anna on Schloßstraße

The Catholic provost church of St. Anna, surrounded by other buildings, is a single-nave building with a wooden barrel vault roof. Round-arched windows in turn illuminate its interior. It was a long way for the first Catholic church in Mecklenburg since the Reformation until the foundation stone was laid on 31 March 1791, and the consecration followed four years later.

A small tower has been enthroned on the east end of the church from the very beginning. It is supported by four columns about two meters high. The copper-covered, bell-like dome appears on top.
Anyone who walks through the entrance area of the church, where church services and concerts are held regularly, will discover opposite - at the western end - a gateway-like passage from the street to the courtyard space. At the eastern end is the sacristy. The windows of the church show, among other things, portrait medallions of saints and date from 1915 and 1985. The patron saint of the church, St. Anna, is found in a wooden group of three.
The original painting of the church is no longer preserved today, nor are some curiosities in the furnishings: while the interiors of 18th century churches were usually opulently decorated, things were more modest in financially weakened Mecklenburg. For example, candlesticks and the holy water font were made of pressed paper. These were made in the famous Ducal Cartonfabrique in Ludwigslust. The material came from the ducal tax offices. The red baptismal font from 1803 was a gift from Duke Friedrich Franz I. It is made of granite - and was manufactured in the grinding mill in Schwerin. The pulpit dates back to the 18th century. The tabernacle, cross and bronze relief are works of modern church art from the 1980s.

Much has changed at St. Anna's over the centuries anyway. At the end of the 17th century, there was only the small house chapel in the residence of the von Bibow family on this site. Duke Friedrich Wilhelm had allowed the Count of Horn and Frau von Bibow to hold private church services here. When she died, the services continued to be „quietly“ tolerated: However, the ringing of the church bells was forbidden.

It was not until 54 years later that permission was finally granted to build a church with a tower and bell over the foundation walls of the von Bibow family home. After the Reformation, St. Anna's was the first newly built Catholic church in Protestant Schwerin.
Since then, it has been constantly built and painted. This was a flexible response to developments in the community and also took account of many structural problems. The rear of the church was secured with supports in the 1940s. Because of the muddy ground, it was in danger of leaning.
In human terms, St. Anna experienced stability through the founding of associations. In the second half of the 19th century, church associations literally flourished in Schwerin. Craftsmen in particular became the mainstay of St. Anna. The parish also had its own reading circles and savings associations.

Among the historical treasures of St. Anna's is an impressive collection of liturgical books, Bibles and printed matter. A special piece is the „Pope's Book“. It dates from the 16th century and contains hand-coloured pictures of the Pope. The most valuable document, however, is probably the „Manuscriptum Swerinse“, the so-called prayer book of Niels Stensen. Stensen was an explorer and a scholar who, in the position of a titular bishop, had a decisive influence on the development of the parish of St. Anna in the 17th century. You will find his portrait on the church wall on Schlossstraße.