Marienkirche

Central Rostock's pride and joy is the 13th-century Marienkirche, the only main Rostock church to survive WWII unscathed. Behind the main altar, the church's 12m-high astrological clock, built in 1472 by Hans Düringer, is the only working clock of its kind in the world still with its original mechanisms. At the very top of the clock is a series of doors. At noon and midnight the innermost right door opens and six of the 12 apostles march out to parade around Jesus (Judas is locked out). Zodiac symbols and moon phases feature in the centre, while the lower section has a disc that tells the exact day on which Easter falls in any given year. The replaceable discs are accurate for 130 years - the current one expires in 2017, and the University of Rostock already has a new one ready. Look out too for the unusually tall, organically shaped baroque organ (1770).