The new Schwedt/Oder
Looking at Schwedt, you will assume that the town came into being during the last fifty years only. But in the inner parts of the city you still encounter important monuments attesting to Schwedt´s 755-years-old history. One of the oldest buildings is the Catherine Church, made of field-stones in the 13th century and enlarged and reconstructed later on. The Catholic church, the Inferior Court building and the former soap factory originate from the period of promoterism. Adjacent to this neo-Gothic ensemble at the Vierradener Place you will find the Vierradener Street. Today, it is reserved for pedestrians only and with its several shops and historic town houses, it invites one to stroll. The historical layout of the roads in the old town have been preserved, too. The whole area is now being reconstructed according to the historical model.
Apart from that, everything in Schwedt is young and modern – people, buildings, industry. After all, with its processing of mineral oil and the paper industry, Schwedt/Oder is among the big industrial sites in Brandenburg today and is the economic centre of the Uckermark.
In Schwedt/Oder outpatient treatment is secured by 88 doctors and 26 dentists. Inpatient treatment is provided by the Clinicum Uckermark. Being a hospital of supra-regional priority, it guarantees medical care and emergency care for the inhabitants of the City of Schwedt/Oder and the environs.
The average age of the people living in Schwedt is 51. Correspondingly, there is a big variety of leisure activities: youth clubs, meeting-places, a music and arts school, boat and bicycle hires, a riding club, sports studios ...
The Schwedt Uckermark Stages are very popular throughout the whole Uckermark region and beyond. The wide range of performances – dramas, concerts, musicals, ballets, films, club meetings and big shows – attracts hundreds of guests every year. At the Schwedt music and arts school and the children´s and youth theatre "Stolperdraht" ("Trip Wire"), no effort is spared to lovingly promote the young´s artistic talents.
The Kietz Gallery, with its interesting, alternating exhibitions always offers an artistic treat. Local artists like to use these rooms for presenting their works.
Wherever there are many young people, many sports will be practised. 36 sports clubs offer over 38 different branches of athletics, among them 5 in certified high-performance state training centres. Schwedt weight-lifters are represented in the Federal Division. Football players of several teams and age groups play at the state level. Four water sports centres directly at the Hohensaaten-Friedrichsthaler-Wasserstraße Canal are very much sought after. From the river bank or the town bridge you can see many rowers and canoeists in summer.
Footpaths attract hikers and bikers into the pleasant environs of the city. Uckermark villages, wooded areas and lakes alternate with each other and continually provide new insight into the originality of the medial and end moraine landscape. The town gates open onto one of the last close-to-nature river meadow landscapes of Central Europe – the Unteres Odertal National Park (Lower Oder valley).
