Malchow village church

The village church of Malchow is an early Gothic fieldstone church in Göritz in the district of Uckermark in Brandenburg, Germany. It belongs to the parish of Schönfeld in the church district of Uckermark of the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia.
The church was built in the second half of the 13th century. In 1731, the parish added the tower, and in 1958 the last service was celebrated, after which the church stood empty. In the 1960s, there was a lack of building materials for the necessary renovation. In the 1990s, the parish considered selling the building, or alternatively demolishing it. In 2003, the church passed into the parish of Schönfeld. In the course of this reassignment, a baptismal angel was transported from the building to the attic of the rectory in Blindow. It was then hung up in the church tower hall in Göritz. In 2004, an emergency stabilization was carried out, as the structure was in danger of collapsing. Part of the interior decoration ended up in the Göritz church. To revive the building, the parish church council founded a committee on 30 January 2008 for the International Church Prize Organising Committee, which includes several council members from the parish of Schöneberg. In the weeks and months that followed, the idea arose to hold a music competition. To this end, the committee contacted several music schools as well as the public administration, in particular the monument protection authority. In 2008, a couple from Halle contacted the parish and donated a sum of money to the German Foundation for the Protection of Monuments, which then involved them in the renovation of the church. In the years 2008 to 2012, extensive renovation work took place, which led to the uncovering of medieval frescoes on the north and south sides of the nave in August and September 2011. The church will be used as an event venue after the renovation. In 2009, the church was included in the International Malchow Church Prize, which was awarded for the first time. In 2010, ten motivational prizes were awarded to young musicians.

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