Schmarsow Castle

Schloss Schmarsow is a manor house in the eponymous district of Schmarsow in the municipality of Kruckow in the Vorpommern-Greifswald district. The three-winged building, used for residential and administrative purposes as well as cultural events during GDR times, is one of the oldest manor houses in the area and a significant cultural monument of Vorpommern. Today, concerts are regularly held in the ballroom, and holiday apartments and function rooms can be rented.

The village of Schmarsow, first mentioned in 1249, was a knightly fief of the von Maltzahn family. It belonged to the possessions of Osten Castle, located very close by on the Tollense, which remained in the joint possession of the Osten-Kummerow and Sarow lines of the von Maltzahn family until the end of the 16th century. In 1599, Schmarsow, along with parts of the villages of Pensin, Kruckow, Pritzenow, Kartlow, Plötz, and Roidin, belonged to the Vanselow estate complex. There was already an estate in the village at this time, but it is unknown whether it was on the site of the later erected manor house. After various ownership disputes within the von Maltzahn family and with external interested parties, including the Duke of Courland and Baroness von Mardefelt, Philipp Joachim von Parsenow acquired all of the Osten estates, including Schmarsow, between 1674 and 1695.

The manor house was built by Philipp Joachim von Parsenow at the end of the 17th century on the site of a previous building. Building material for this was also taken from Osten Castle, which was destroyed in the Thirty Years' War.

In 1796, Otto Bogislav von Parsenow had the building restored. After the extinction of the Parsenows in the 19th century, several lines of the Maltzahn family laid claim to the inheritance to regain the old feudal rights. The decades-long process was only concluded in 1844. Schmarsow went to the Kummerow line. However, as the animosity between the parties to the lawsuit continued to smolder for about 20 years, Schmarsow, along with Osten and the Borgwall outwork, was finally sold in 1855 to Woldemar von Heyden-Cartlow, who resided in neighboring Kartlow. The von Heyden-Cartlow family remained in possession of Schmarsow until the expropriation in 1945. Already in 1865, the Schmarsow estate was leased to Ludwig Freiherr von Maltzahn of Vanselow. The administrator appointed by the von Heydens lived in the castle, but they also accommodated their guests here. Until 1938, there was a dairy in the cellar rooms.

After the end of the Second World War, the manor house came into the possession of the municipality of Schmarsow, which used it for residential purposes, for the municipal administration, a youth club, cultural events, and also as a consumer sales outlet. During this time, the building was placed under monument protection. In 2000, the municipality sold the building. Extensive renovations took place. The village road, which had been routed directly past the manor house through the former estate since the 1950s, was relieved by a bypass road completed in 2006.