Mausoleum Lehsen
On the northern edge of the village Lehsen near the course of the Motel stream stands a graceful chapel on a tower hill. Built in 1868, the six-sided plastered central building in neo-Gothic style is the mausoleum of the former von Laffert family, who owned the estate. The von Laffert family acquired the estate in 1690 from the long-established von Blücher family.
The local manor house was commissioned by Ernst August von Laffert and rebuilt in 1822 according to plans by architect Joseph Christian Lillie. In 1904, the von Laffert family had to sell the Lehsen estate. Some
members of the von Laffert family still rest in the mausoleum. If you enter the tower mound via a small bridge, you will come directly to the entrance portal with the Laffert family coat of arms emblazoned on the gable. The pointed gabled portal wall is decorated with sandstone finials. The hexagonal ground plan is divided by buttresses with pinnacles. Neo-Gothic tracery adorns the shield gables of the side walls. The ogival window openings are bricked up except for the east window. In the central point of the roof rises a small pinnacle with a cross finial. The building is actually quite attractive architecturally, but the gray plaster and the closed openings make it look very bleak and sad overall.
Visited: October 4, 2020
Location: Lehsen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
Status: Monument, publicly accessible
