The oldest surviving structure in Basdorf is the village church.

The first modest church in Basdorf would already have been built when the monks of Lehnin monastery spread Eastwards and cultivated the land east of the river Elbe in the 1200's. The first inhabitants of Basdorf settled around the church seeking shelter in its shade.

The next church building was a small, naved hall built on a rectangular plan, with an outer wall of granite boulders. Towards the end of the 13th Cenutry the church tower was built.

During the course of the following centuries Basdorf church underwent many extensions according to needs. At the end of the 15th Century the nave was raised and closed with a polygonal sanctuary, so that the building had the outer form that we are familiar with today.

In 1737 the tower was heightened with an elaborately decorated structure. Since then the tower has been visible for miles, with its curly, baroque dome topped with a weather vane. The weather vane bears the monogram FWR, standing for the name of the soldier king Friedrich Wilhelm Rex, and the date 1737.

In 1925 the tower gained its wrought-iron clock.

The church tower was at one time equipped with two bells. The large, bronze bell was taken away during the First World War to be melted down for munitions, leaving only the small bell to chime. Today there are again two bells in operation, and they are still hand-rung with bell-ropes.

Text Source: Translation from 'Basdorf - Ein Spaziergang durch die Geschichte eines Barnimer Dorfes' by Astrid Schaefer. I give no guarantee that I have translated it correctly though!

One of the gravestones set into the church-yard wall:

The inscription reads:

Here rests in God
my dear husband,
our good father,
the villager*
Christian Pluntze
Born 13th December 1838
Died 20th January 1908
We wish to invoke God's peace
Until we meet again someday

* Historically, a 'Büdner' was someone who lived in the village with their own house, but had no land (or very little) of their own. He had to make his living by working for land owners, e.g. as a field labourer.

On the top of the cross on the left is the inscription 'Ruhe Sanft!' which is pretty much equivalent to wishing 'rest in peace'.

Another gravestone:

Across the top "Das Gedächtnis der Gerechten bleibet in Segen. Sal.X,v.7."
Translates:The memory of the righteous is blessed. Proverbs 10:7

And then:

This is a photo of the porch and Gothic gable, erected in 1860, on the south-side entrance, after a design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel.