3. Red Brick Gothic
3.2 Cultural Centre Saint Spiritus, Greifswald
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3.2 Cultural Centre Saint Spiritus, Greifswald
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History of Saint Spiritus
The Cultural Centre Saint Spiritus is located in Greifswald. Therefore, it shares the same origin and town history as Saint Nicolai Church. Just like Saint Nicolas church, it would also be beneficial for Saint Spiritus to incorporate the significance of the artist Caspar David Friedrich and the old Eldena monastery for cooperation on marketing efforts and product development. This case should therefore also include the sections on introduction, Origin, Caspar David Friedrich and Eldena monastery from the Saint Nicolai’s church Greifswald case just above.
Saint Spiritus hospital
Shortly after the presentation of the Lubeck law in 1250 the city of Greifswald has had a hospital. It is first mentioned in a document from 1262, but it is believed the hospital bought one of the existing wings as early as 1647.
In this medieval time, the community had the idea to establish care and housing for the needing.
Because of this idea of charitable society the hospital took care of the poor, the elderly, the immigrants and the foreigners. At this time the hospital was dependent on donations to buy food and medical supplies. At some point the hospital inherited both land and wealth through the testament of Katharina Rubenow.
Despite the many years of war and despair the hospital and its buildings have survived and are now regarded as the oldest buildings in Greifswald. This is why it’s still possible to see the old walls, pillars and rooms with frescoes in Red Brick Gothic style.
Cultural Centre of Saint Spiritus
The old hospital is now converted to a cultural centre. Its appearances have changed to a modern look and the old buildings in the back are not visible from the street anymore. They are however converted into a café with a beautiful courtyard with a view to Saint Nicolai’s Church to enjoy the refreshments in. The old history as a hospital is not forgotten despite the change from Medicare to culture. Today the building is used for cultural offers to the public so although the purpose inside the buildings is changed, they still serve the public. During a restoration in 2003 - 2004, the Brick Gothic elements were made visible again.
In this sociocultural centre is a variety of offers to all ages and interests from galleries and jazz to pottery workshops. From the café in the courtyard there is a view to the tower of Saint Nicolai’s church.
Key influences on the visitor experience at Saint Spiritus
Saint Spiritus is located in the centre of Greifswald and therefore there are great accessibility to other café, attractions and hotels. There is no admission fee. The opening hours of the centre are on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11 am to 4 pm. On Tuesdays it is 1 pm to 6 pm and on Fridays it is 10 am to 12 am.
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Unlike Saint Nicolai’s church Saint Spiritus is not on the European Route of Brick Gothic but there are a lot of other red brick gothic buildings in Greifswald. Therefore tourists in Greifswald have other red brick attractions to visits which make the area all the more attractive for tourists.
The webpage of Saint Spiritus centre has no information in English. There should especially be information about entrance fee, parking facilities, guided tours and opening hours in English. There should also be links on the homepage of Saint Spiritus to the homepage of European Route of Brick Gothic.
Visitor Characteristics of Saint Spiritus cliental
There have not been collected questionnaires from Saint Spiritus. There is no basis for assuming that Saint Spiritus and Saint Nicolai’s church has the same cliental. It is based on the product difference between the two attractions. Where Saint Nicolai’s church is trying to attract tourists, Saint Spiritus is more involved in cultural activities and courses for local members. The café however is more appealing to tourists. Since the Red Brick Gothic tourists is a major part of the tourism in Greifswald Saint Spiritus should, if they want to attract more tourists, appeal to the same cliental as the other Red Brick attractions, therefore the data from the other Red Brick Gothic attractions in this publication could also apply to the analysis of Saint Spiritus if there is a wish to change cliental.
Strategic Recommendations for Saint Spiritus
Recommendations on how to increase the number of visitors:
Recommendations for product development: The same challenge exists for Saint Spiritus as the rest of the other Red Brick Gothic attractions, to make the visit “worth” making. Creating joined products is the key to solving this problem. For example, Saint Spiritus is basically located next door to Saint Nicolai’s church. Combining a product of entrance fee plus coffee or guided tour plus coffee could get visitors to visit both places and not just one of them. The product recommendations for Saint Nicolai’s church above also applies for Saint Spiritus, that section can therefore be read in continuation of this case.
Recommendations for marketing development: From the questionnaires on red brick attractions in Greifswald in general, it is clear that there is not a lot of foreign visitors. There are a number of reasons for this. It is very difficult for foreigners to obtain information about Saint Spiritus. There is no information in English. There is no links to the European Route of Brick gothic. This means that no one will find Saint Spiritus. There should also be links to other tourist webpages. For example http://pharm1.pharmazie.uni-greifswald.de/pdf/Centre.pdf, which is a map over the centre of Greifswald and provides the visitor with a route to walk or to drive on bike, sites to see, places to visit and much more.
More cooperation between all the involved partners in Greifswald is recommended. If EuRoB (European Route of Brick Gothic), the attractions and the tourist offices work closer together and link to each other, it will benefit every involved partner. The EuRoB webpage links to a lot of
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homepages for attractions, but the problem occurs when these sites do not have available information in English.
As the questionnaires showed at the other red brick attractions in Greifswald, a lot of the visitors visit the attractions because they accidently passed by. By cooperating on promotion there is a better chance to create awareness on all of the attractions. By creating joined products, handing out material on other Red Brick Gothic attractions to visitors and increase the availability of information on the internet it will be possible to increase the awareness of the attraction and get more visitors.
Recommendations for development of Baltic Sea Region heritage:
Like the recommended product developments, the recommendations for heritage development are also shared with Saint Nicolai’s church. This is the case because they share the same heritage given their location and age.
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