Once upon a time, the Dorfkirche Selchow stood as a silent observer on Selchow’s village green. This church is not just a building. It is a landmark with its west section that shapes the townscape. First documented in 1373, the Dorfkirche Selchow sits amidst the old cemetery.
When you walk around this 150-year-old church you will notice details that set it apart. The Dorfkirche Selchow lacks an apse. This makes it a rare example of a three-part structure. It includes a tower a nave and a straight-ended choir.
Take a closer look at the building material of Dorfkirche Selchow. The neatly cut blocks of the nave contrast with the choir. The choir uses roughly joined fieldstones. Its windows mark the late Romanesque style.
The Romanesque windows reveal a deviation from typical construction. Usually the choir and apse are built first. Then comes the nave. The tower is last. Here at Dorfkirche Selchow the nave was built first. It was built with the base of the future west tower.
Many churches in the region had wooden predecessors. Perhaps a wooden choir stood here. The builders of Dorfkirche Selchow might have focused on the nave first. The nave was needed to accommodate the community that sacrificed so much to build it. Years later the makeshift choir was replaced. A fieldstone choir without an apse was built. It featured a round-arched priest’s door. The east end had a triple window as a symbol of the Trinity. Only traces of it remain now.
A tower was added to the west of the nave. It has a pointed-arch west portal made of well-fitted stones. Inside the tower a pointed arch connects it to the nave.
The original portal of Dorfkirche Selchow was on the south side. It had a flat arch made of precisely hewn fieldstones. Now it is walled up. Only remnants are visible. Three round-arched windows once graced the north and south sides of the nave. It is unclear if the west side always had a portal. Modifications make it hard to determine if the opening was original. However evidence suggests a portal from the beginning.
In post-Reformation times the current basket-arched windows were created. They are made of brick like the tower’s pointed windows. In the 17th century a patron’s box was added to the choir’s south side for the von Thümen family. This gives the choir an asymmetrical look extending beyond the nave’s south side.
Inside the flat-roofed Dorfkirche Selchow the chancel floor is slightly raised. There used to be a triumphal arch here. Only two medieval pieces remain. There is a consecration cross on the north wall of the chancel. On the south side there’s a late Gothic crucifix. The remaining interior dates from the Baroque period. It includes a large pulpit altar. There is also an elaborate two-story glazed patron’s box on the choir’s south side and a tomb.
The Dorfkirche Selchow stands as a testament to time. It reflects changing architectural styles and community devotion. Its walls could tell countless stories of centuries past.