 The abbey prospered until it was secularized in 1535, following the Protestant Reformation and the adaoption of Lutheranism by the Pomeranian nobility in 1534.Following the secularization, the new owner, duke Bogislaw XIII, rebuilt the abbey as his ducal palace, and turned the former abbey's yards into a town.He modeled the new town after the Republic of Venice, envisioning a town holding a population of nobles, craftsmen, merchants and artists, that was to compete with neighboring Hanseatic Stralsund.