Galenbeck Castle

In the year 1277, the village was first mentioned in a document as Golenbeke, and in 1392 as "stede to Golenbeke". The place developed around the castle of the von Rieben family located here. The lowland castle is in the immediate vicinity of the former manor house, 200 m southwest of the church on the edge of the marshy shore zone of Lake Galenbeck. The castle consisted of an outer bailey and a main castle. The main castle included the motte, the keep, and the residential tower. The castle was built in three construction phases. From 1236–1250, a square motte with sides 24 m long was erected. This was surrounded by a simple ditch-and-wall system. The ditch was connected to Lake Galenbeck and was thus filled with water. On the hill stood a wooden tower, surrounded by a palisade. This complex fell victim to flames. From 1250 to 1390, a stone, square residential tower was built and a new palisade of oak planks was constructed.

In the third construction phase from 1390 to 1453, the round keep and the palas were erected. The square residential tower was partially dismantled. A staircase was broken into the wall thickness of the residential tower. As a result, the remainder of the tower served as a stair tower for the palas to ascend to the round keep, which was accessible via a wooden bridge from the residential tower, and in the lower part as a cellar. A Stralsund citizens' uprising conquered and destroyed the castle's fortifications in 1453. Today, only remnants of the surrounding moats and the round keep, made of brick and fieldstone, remain.

The extensive outer bailey is separated from the village by a partially filled-in ditch. It consists of a wall about 20 m wide and approx. four meters high, which borders the castle on the south and east sides. Economic buildings were probably located here. Foundations of a corner tower are recognizable. The main castle is an expanded motte with sides 24 x 24 m long and two meters high. Building remains here include the foundations of the palas, a habitable keep from the 13th century, and the up to nine-meter-high remains of the keep from the first third of the 15th century. The castle was destroyed in 1453. It remained inhabited until the 17th century, and was abandoned with the construction of the manor house.