Güstrow
town in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany
Güstrow (German: [ˈɡʏstʁoː] ; Latin: Gustrovium) is a town in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in north-eastern Germany. It is capital of the Rostock district; Rostock itself is a district-free city and regiopolis.
It has a population of 28,999 (2020) and is the seventh largest town in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Since 2006 Güstrow has had the official suffix Barlachstadt.
The town is known for its renaissance Güstrow Palace, the old town and its brick gothic cathedral with Ernst Barlach's Floating Angel sculpture.
Geography
Güstrow is 45 kilometers south of Rostock at the Nebel, an arm of the Warnow. The Bützow-Güstrow-Kanal (channel) is a navigable connection to the Warnow and used by tourists. There are five lakes (Inselsee, Sumpfsee, Parumer See, Grundloser See and Gliner See) and several forests around Güstrow.
History
The name Güstrow comes from the Polabian Guščerov and means lizard place.
In 1219 the Wendish castle Güstrowe was built where the renaissance palace stands now.
“Güstrow” enters the record as town in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Güstrow, town and Mecklenburg-Western can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Güstrow” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Güstrow, town and Mecklenburg-Western provides the most credible route into that argument.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16147. VIAF identifies the subject as 312798969. The Library of Congress control number is n80113711. Authority coordinates are 53.794, 12.176. 5 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 2006 and 1219.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Güstrow”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Güstrow primary sources, Güstrow archive and Güstrow research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Güstrow” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.