59th | Top twin towns and sister cities in Germany |
4th | Top railway stations in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern |
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Stralsund | |
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![]() ![]() Stralsund
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Coordinates | 54°18′0″N 13°5′0″E / 54.3°N 13.083333°E |
Administration | |
Country | Germany |
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State | Mecklenburg-Vorpommern |
District | Urban district |
Lord Mayor | Alexander Badrow (CDU) |
Basic statistics | |
Area | 38.97 km2 (15.05 sq mi) |
Elevation | 13 m (43 ft) |
Population | 57,613 (31 December 2006)[1] |
- Density | 1,478 /km2 (3,829 /sq mi) |
Founded | 1234 |
Other information | |
Time zone | CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) |
Licence plate | HST |
Postal codes | 18435, 18437, 18439 |
Area code | 03831 |
Website | www.stralsund.de |
Stralsund (German pronunciation: [ˈʃtʁaːlzʊnt]) is a city in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, situated at the southern coast of the Strelasund (a sound of the Baltic Sea separating the island of Rügen from the mainland).[2] Two bridges (the Rügendamm and since October 2007 the new Rügen bridge) and several ferry services connect Stralsund with the ports of Rügen.[2]
The main industries of Stralsund are shipyards, fishing, and, to an increasing degree, tourism.
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In medieval ages, the Stralsund area was part of the West Slavic Principality of Rügen, which was part of the Kingdom of Denmark since 1168. At that time, the Dänholm isle and a small fishing village, both at the site of the latter city, were named Strale / Stralow, meaning "arrow" (this meaning is still preserved in the town's coat of arms, showing an arrow).
In the course of German Ostsiedlung, many German settlers, gentry and merchants were called into the principality, and eventually populated the Strale site. Merchants from other countries as well as locals were attracted to the settlement and made up for one third of the city's population. The Danish navy was using the isle as well. When the settlement had grown to town size, prince Wizlaw I of Rügen granted Lübeck law to "our town Stralow" in 1234. In 1240, when the prince gave additional land to the city, he called it Stralesund.
The success of the settlement challenged the powerful Free City of Lübeck, which burnt Stralsund down in 1249. Afterwards the town was rebuilt with a massive city wall having 11 town gates and 30 watchtowers. The Neustadt, a town-like suburb, was merged to Stralsund by 1361. Schadegard, a twin town to Stralsund also founded by Wizlaw I nearby, but was not granted German law, served as the principal stronghold and enclosed a fort. It was given up and torn down by 1269 under the pressure of the Stralsund Bürger.
In 1293 Stralsund became a member of the Hanseatic League.[2] A total of 300 ships flying the flag of Stralsund cruised the Baltic Sea in the 14th century. In 1325, the Principality of Rügen became part of the Duchy of Pomerania, Stralsund however maintained a considerable independence.
In the 17th century, Stralsund became a theatre in the Thirty Years' War. In the Battle of Stralsund (1628), the town was besieged by Albrecht von Wallenstein after the council refused to accept the Capitulation of Franzburg..[3] Stralsund resisted with Danish and Swedish support.[3] The Swedish garrison in Stralsund was the first on German soil in history.[3] With the Treaty of Stettin (1630), the town became one of two major Swedish forts in the Duchy of Pomerania, besides Stettin (now Szczecin).[4]
After the war, the Peace of Westphalia (1648) and the Treaty of Stettin (1653) made Stralsund part of Swedish Pomerania. Lost to Brandenburg in the Battle of Stralsund (1678), it was restored to Sweden in the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1679). In the Great Northern War in 1715 Charles XII led the defence of Stralsund for a year against the united European armies. Stralsund remained under Swedish control until the Battle of Stralsund (1807), when it was seized by Napoleon Bonaparte's army. Seized by Ferdinand von Schill's freikorps in 1809, it was subsequently re-gained by France, with Schill killed in action. In the Congress of Vienna (1815), Stralsund became a part of the Prussian Province of Pomerania and the seat of a government region resembling the former Swedish Pomerania.
From 1949 until German Reunification in 1990, Stralsund was part of the German Democratic Republic.
Historic Centres of Stralsund and Wismar* | |
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UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
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State Party | ![]() |
Type | Cultural |
Criteria | ii, iv |
Reference | 1067 |
Region** | Europe and North America |
Inscription history | |
Inscription | 2002 (26th Session) |
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. ** Region as classified by UNESCO. |
Stralsund is linked to the A20 motorway (towards Berlin and Hamburg), via the B96n dual-carriageway. Other major roads include the B105 (beginning in the town centre and continuing to Rostock) and the B96 (major road to Rügen) and the B194 to Grimmen.
When travelling by air, passengers usually do so via Rostock Laage Airport with connecting flights from Munich.
Stralsund is twinned with:
![]() Stralsund as seen from the seaside. |
![]() Founding document from 1234. |
![]() Marienkirche (St. Mary's church). |
![]() Nikolaikirche (St. Nicolas's church). |
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STRALSUND, a seaport of Germany, in the Prussian province of Pomerania, on the west side of the Strelasund, an arm of the Baltic, 12 m. wide, which separates the island of Riigen from the mainland, 135 m. by rail N. from Berlin and 45 m. N.W. of Rostock. Pop. (1905), 31,813, of whom more than a fourth reside in the Knieper, Tribseeser, Franken and other suburbs on the mainland. A steam railway ferry connects it with the island railway on Riigen, and so with Sassnitz, whence a regular steamboat mail service affords communication with Trelleborg in Sweden. The situation of the town proper, on a small triangular islet only connected with the mainland by three moles and bridges at the angles, has always rendered its fortification comparatively easy, and down to 1873 it was a fortress of the first rank. Since that year the ramparts have been levelled and their site occupied by public promenades and gardens. The defences of the place are now solely confined to the island of Danholm, known down to the 13th century as Strehla or Strehlo, lying in the Sound. The quaint architecture of the houses, many of which present their curious and handsome gables to the street, gives Stralsund an interesting and old-fashioned appearance. The four Gothic churches of St Nicholas,' St Mary, with a lofty steeple, St James and The Holy Ghost, and the fine medieval town hall, dating in its oldest part from 1306 and restored in 1882, are among the more striking buildings. The last houses the provincial antiquarian museum and the municipal library of 70,000 volumes. There is a fine monument commemorating the war of 1870-71, one (1859) to the local patriot Ferdinand von Schill, and another (1900) to the poet and patriot E. M. Arndt. Among the educational establishments of the place must be mentioned the classical school (Gymnasium), founded in 1560, and a school of navigation. The manufactures of Stralsund are more miscellaneous than extensive; they include machinery, playing cards, sugar, soap, cigars, gloves, furniture, paper, oil and beer. The trade is chiefly confined to the shipping of grain, fish, coal, malt and timber, with some cattle and wool, and to the import of coal and tar, but of late years it has declined, despite excellent wharf accommodation and a considerable depth of water (12-15 ft.). Stralsund entertains passengerboat communications with Barth, Stettin, Rostock and Lubeck as well as with various small ports on the isle of Riigen.
Stralsund was founded in 1234, and, though several times destroyed, steadily prospered. It was one of the five Wendish towns whose alliance extorted from King Eric of Norway a favourable commercial treaty in 1284-1285; and in the 14th century it was second only to Lubeck in the Hanseatic League. Although under the sway of the dukes of Pomerania, the city was able to maintain a marked degree of independence, which is still apparent in its municipal privileges. Its early - Protestant sympathies placed it on the side of Sweden during the Thirty Years' War, and in 1628 it successfully resisted a siege of eleven weeks by Wallenstein, who had sworn to take it "though it were chained to heaven." He was forced to retire with the loss of 12,000 men, and a yearly festival in the town still celebrates the occasion. After the peace of Westphalia Stralsund was ceded with the rest of Western Pomerania to Sweden; and for more than a century and a half it was exposed to attack and capture as the tete - de - pont of the Swedes in continental Europe. It was taken by France in 1807, and in 1815 it passed to Prussia. In 1809 it was the scene of the death of Ferdinand von Schill, in his gallant though ineffectual attempt to rouse his countrymen against the French invaders.
See Mohnike and Zober, Stralsundische Chroniken (Stralsund, 1833-1834); Israel, Die Stadt Stralsund (Leipzig, 1893); Baier, Stralsundische Geschichten (Stralsund, 1902); and T. Reishaus, Wallenstein and die Belagerung Stralsunds (Stralsund, 1887).
1 A remarkable series of 14th-century frescoes, in perfect condition, were disclosed in 1909 by the removal of the whitewash which had for centuries covered the interior of this fine church.
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