Saal, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Saal is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Rügen district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. The community is under administration of the small city of Barth. Saal has first been documented in a deed of the city of Barth in the year of 1255. At this time there was an already abandoned Slavic castle by the mouth of the Saal creek into the Saal “bodden”. The population around 1255 consisted of indigenous Slav, migrants from Westphalia and Denmark. The first church already existed and was completely made of wood and sanctified to the “Holy Cross”. From today's village Tempel, at the time a commandery, knights templar arrived at Saal. The order of knights was in search to expanding Northeast, and had to take provisions securing its continuity as the Holy Land was lost. The order induced the erection of the church, which until this date dominates impressively the scenery and gives a different impression of Gothic architecture. Everything at this church is characterized by ‘shiftings’: windows, portals. The frayed walls are evidence of both planned or symbolic annexes and continued constructions. The entry to the underground walkway, behind the altar, can still be seen. It is said to end somewhere by the “bodden”. Underneath