 
| The countryside is more spacious, and especially the fields are larger. The land beyond the Elbe belongs to the major agricultural properties. This is where, initiated by the colonization of the east in the 12th century, the cultural and natural landscape was transformed, a unique development in Europe's history. The knights of Henry the Lion who came here to fight the Slavs were rewarded primarily with land.
Over the years, these knights ennobled by virtue of service gradually merged with the Slavic noble families, producing the rather simple, down-to-earth Mecklenburg nobility.
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selfsame names that recur whenever the later lords, the grand dukes of
Mecklenburg, invested them with fiefs. In this way, the
Oertzens, Maltzahns, Bülows, Plessens, Hahns, Bassewitzes and Blüchers
accumulated their expansive landholdings. Whereas at first only a few
of these landholders farmed the land themselves, the situation changed
dramatically after the 16th century.
The 30-Years War, which
also decimated the population in Mecklenburg to a drastic extent, paved
the way for further expansion of the nobility's estates. By the
end of the 18th century, the large-scale nobleman's estate had already
become the characteristic element of the Mecklenburg countryside.
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Pure farming villages were a rarity, largely replaced by the estate villages so typical for Mecklenburg. The latter consisted of the manor house as centrepiece, the various farm buildings, the buildings for the workers on the estate, and the church – in most cases a patronage church endowed by the nobility, which have remained to this day a hallmark of the state's landscape. In spite of the buildings being separated from the land and the exploitation of the estate complex after 1945, it is astounding how much has survived to this day.
Thanks to a high commitment from the private sector, since the peaceful revolution of 1989 quite a number of the manor houses and mansions in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania have been restored and opened as tourist attractions. You will find a selection of the finest on the following pages.
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