The parish church in Altenkirchen is one of the oldest sacral buildings on the Island of Rügen. During its construction in the 12th century, an image stone of Jaromarsburg was used, which was dedicated to the Slavic deity Svantevit and was once located at Cape Arkona.
One of the oldest churches on the island of Rügen was originally built as a three-nave basilica and was repeatedly rebuilt over the centuries. The choir and the late Gothic ribbed vault have been preserved until today. The baroque altar and the picture of "Sinking Peter" were created by the Stralsund artists Elias Kessler and Erich Kiefer.
The "Svantevitstein" is an image stone made of granite, 1.18 m long and 68 cm wide, which was once inserted horizontally into the medieval masonry of the church. Depicted is a man with chin and mustache. He wears a caftan-like skirt or a fitted coat, cap and shoes and holds a drinking horn in his hands. Similarities to the god Svantevit from the sanctuary in the castle at Cape Arkona are recognizable. The stone, which is also addressed as a grave slab, was walled in horizontally only after the construction of the parish church in Altenkirchen. It could be the rest of a Slavic burial. The Svantevit is also called Götzenstein or Steinbabe.
