Stralsund

The city of Stralsund is located in northeastern Germany in the region of Western Pomerania in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Stralsund is located south west of Rügen. It is separated by a small body of water named the Strelasund which stretches out to the Baltic Sea.

Its annual precipitation is 656 mm (25.8 inches) and comparatively low, falling within the lowest third of all precipitation values in Germany. The driest month is February; the most precipitation falls in July. The precipitation varies relatively moderately throughout the year. Only 40% of weather stations in Germany exhibit lower seasonal variation.

Rügen Bridge, Germany's largest bridge, connects Stralsund with Rügen Island

The city lies on the sound of Strelasund, a strait of the Baltic Sea. Its geographic proximity to the island of Rügen, whose only fixed link to the mainland, the Strelasund Crossing, runs between Stralsund and the village of Altefähr, has given Stralsund the sobriquet "Gateway to the Island of Rügen" (Tor zur Insel Rügen). Stralsund is located close to the Western Pomerania Lagoon Area National Park.

Stralsund's city borough includes municipal forest and three municipal ponds (the Knieperteich, Frankenteich and Moorteich. The three ponds and the Strelasund lend the Old Town, the original settlement site and historic centre of the city, a protected island ambience. The highest point of the city is the Galgenberg ("Gallows Hill") on its western approaches.

The city's territory covers an area of 54.07 km², which makes Stralsund, with its nearly 58,000 inhabitants one of the most densely populated cities in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (1,480 inhabitants per km²).

The borough of the Hanseatic city of Stralsund is divided into as follows:

The city also possesses estates in the local area as well as on the islands of Rügen, Hiddensee and Ummanz.

Larger cities in the nearby area are Greifswald and Rostock. In the local area around Stralsund there are also the towns of Barth and Ribnitz-Damgarten.

Many of the smaller villages in the vicinity, like Prohn or Negast, have grown sharply after 1990 as a result of the influx of those living or working in Stralsund.

• The historic Stralsund old town island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It features many valuable remnants of the Hanseatic time, Brick Gothic, renaissance, baroque, historicist and Jugendstil buildings.[5]
• The heart of the old town is the Alter Markt Square ("Old Market"), with the Gothic city hall (13th century). Behind the city hall soars the imposing St. Nicholas' Church, built in 1270–1360. The square is surrounded by houses from different periods, including the Gothic Wulflamhaus (a 14th-century patrician house, today a restaurant), and the Baroque Commandantenhus of 1751, the old headquarters of the Swedish military commander.
• Saint James' Church, built in mid-14th century. It was destroyed several times, e.g. by Wallenstein and in World War II.
• Saint Mary's Church, built in 1383–1473 in Gothic style, is the largest church in Stralsund, and from 1625 to 1647 it was the world's tallest structure. Its octagonal tower (104 meters high) offers a panorama view of Stralsund and the neighboring islands of Rügen and Hiddensee.

Portal of the St. Nicholas Church

• St. John's Abbey (Franciscan monastery built in 1254) is one of the oldest buildings in the city.
• Stralsund is the port of registry for the former German Reichsmarine Navy Sail Training ship "Gorch Fock" 1. It is now a floating museum.
• The Monastery of Saint Catherine, mainly built in the 15th century, houses two museums today: Stralsund's Museum of Cultural History (known for e.g. the Gold Jewellery of Hiddensee),[12] and the German Oceanographic Museum, Germany's largest aquarium and oceanographic collection. The ancient refectory of the monastery is one of the most spectacular Gothic interiors in Germany.
• Besides the mentioned German Oceanographic Museum at the Katharinenkloster, Stralsund has other museums dedicated to marine life, including the popular Ozeaneum that was voted European Museum of the Year in 2010. There is also a nautical centre, the Nautineum, on Dänholm island and the Marinemuseum Dänholm, showcasing the military history of the German Navy, especially the interwar Reichsmarine. It also hosts one of the last remaining GDR Volksmarine (People's Navy) torpedo boats.

Alter Markt Square

Old Town (Altstadt)

The centre of Stralsund has a wealth of historic buildings. Since 1990, large parts of the historic old town have been renovated with private and public capital, and with the support of foundations. As a result of the contempt for historic buildings in East Germany many houses were threatened by ruin. The Old Town in particular offers a rich variety of historic buildings, with many former merchants' houses, churches, streets and squares. Of more than 800 listed buildings in Stralsund, more than 500 are designated as individual monuments in the Old Town. In twenty years, from the Wende (turning point) in 1990 to November 2010, 588 of the more than 1,000 old buildings were completely refurbished, including 363 individual monuments.[13] Because of its historical and architectural significance, in 2002 Stralsund's old town together with the old town of Wismar were added to entitled the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list as the "Historic Centres of Stralsund and Wismar".[5]

The city hall

Alter Markt Square

On the Alter Markt Square there is the main landmark of Stralsund: the Brick Gothic city hall from Hanseatic times. This building from 1278 features a remarkable "show façade" that serves the sole purpose of displaying wealth of the city. Citizens can walk through the city hall and its gallery. It also features one of Europe's largest Gothic cellar vaults. The ensemble of buildings on the Alter Markt Square includes the St. Nicholas Church, the Artushof, the Wulflamhaus, the Commandantenhus, the Gewerkschaftshaus and a new apartment complex.

Old Town houses

The historic houses with their distinctive gables, often renovated at a high financial cost, dominate the scene in the streets of the Old Town. The former Swedish Government Palace is now home to the city construction department. The Museum of Cultural History Museum in Mönchstrasse, in one of the most important surviving original houses of the Hanseatic era, was refurbished with funds from the German Foundation for Monument Conservation It offers a guide to understanding the city's history over seven centuries.

Churches

Three large medieval Brick Gothic buildings – St. Mary's Church, St. Nicholas Church and St. James Church, point to the medieval significance of Stralsund. Today St. James' is used purely as a cultural venue, its parish being served now by the Church of the Holy Spirit, which also dates from the 14th century. Two other churches on the Alter Markt Square and the Neuer Markt are still used for church services. The tower of St. Mary's on the Neuer Markt offers a panoramic view over Stralsund and the island of Rügen.

Monasteries

St. John's Abbey, a Franciscan monastery from 1254, now houses the Stralsund City Archives. Regular cultural events also take place here, such as open-air theatre productions.

The Gothic abbey of St. Anne and St. Bridget in Schillstrasse was established around 1560 from the merger of the abbey of St. Anne (1480) and the double abbey of Mariakron (1421).

The Abbey of St. Jürgen on Mönchstrasse was mentioned in 1278 for the first time. It served in the 14th century as an old people's home. In 1743 a new building, the Kleines St. Jürgen Kloster, was built at Kniepertor and the site was extended in 1754 to create old people's flats and in 1841 for widow's apartments.

First mentioned in 1256, the Heilgeistkloster is now the Hospital of the Holy Spirit.

Old Port with Ozeaneum, warehouses and historical ships including the Gorch Fock

Port

Ferries to Hiddensee and Altefähr, as well as harbor tour boats, dock at the port. In the summer months the port is a berthing places for river cruisers. There are several yacht harbors and marinas near the Old Town. Hundreds of yachts and boats tie up along the north mole in summer. Architecturally the pilot station and the harbor warehouse (Hafenspeicher), as well as the silhouette of the Old Town, form a unique tableau of different historical eras. The barque and former sailor's training ship, Gorch Fock is another tourist attraction at the harbor.

• Thomas Kantzow (c.1505–1542), chronicler of the Duchy of Pomerania
• Bartholomäus Sastrow (1520–1603), official, notary and mayor of Stralsund
• Nicodemus Tessin the Elder (1615–1681), Swedish architect
• Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld (1651–1722), Swedish Field Marshal
• Philip Johan von Strahlenberg (1676–1747), Swedish officer and geographer
• Ernst Moritz Arndt (1769–1860), nationalist author, poet, fighter against serfdom.[19]
• Ferdinand von Schill (1776–1809), leader of a revolt against French domination.[20]
• Carl Georg Schwing (1778—1858), jurist and mayor of Stralsund
• Georg Friedrich Schömann (1793–1879), classical scholar.[21]
• Arnold Ruge (1802–1880), philosopher and political writer.[22]
• Adolf Heinrich von Arnim-Boitzenburg (1803–1868), Prime minister of Prussia
• Hermann von Mallinckrodt (1821–1874), parliamentarian from the Province of Westphalia
• Eduard von Jachmann (1822–1887), vice admiral of the Prussian Navy
• Erich Haupt (1841–1910), Lutheran theologian
• Leonhard Tietz (1849–1914), merchant, opened his first department store in Stralsund in 1879
• Georg Wertheim (1857–1939), merchant, founded the Wertheim chain of department stores
• Johannes Kromayer (1859–1934), classical historian
• Wolfram Setz (born 1941), historian, editor and translator
• Angela Merkel (born 1954), politician; her office is still located on the main shopping street
• Dietmar Bartsch (born 1958), politician, member of the Bundestag

Harmann Burmeister, ca.1885

• Carl Wilhelm Scheele (1742–1786), Swedish Pomeranian / German pharmaceutical chemist.[23]
• Christian Ehrenfried Weigel (1748–1831), scientist
• Hermann Burmeister (1807–1892), German-Argentine zoologist, entomologist and botanist [24]
• William Lindley (1808–1900), engineer, designed water and sewerage systems
• Wilhelm Ferdinand Erichson (1809–1848), medical doctor and entomologist
• Otto Gottlieb Mohnike (1814–1887), physician and naturalist
• Gustav Karl Wilhelm Hermann Karsten (1817–1908), botanist and geologist
• Ernst Kromayer (1862–1933), dermatologist and inventor
• Karl Grunberg (1875–1932), otologist

Heinrich Kruse, 1890

• Hermann Raupach (1728–1778), composer
• Paul Struck (1776–1820), composer
• Joachim Nicolas Eggert (1779–1813), Swedish composer and musical director
• Joachim Daniel Andreas Müller (1812–1857), Swedish gardener and writer
• Heinrich Kruse (1815–1902), dramatist, publicist and playwright [25]
• Friedrich Spielhagen (1829–1911), novelist, literary theorist and translator.[26]
• Hermann Carl Hempel (1848–1921), landscape painter
• Hans-Heinz Dräger (1909–1963), German-American musicologist
• Harry Kupfer (1935–2019), opera director, worked at the Stralsund Theatre 1958–1962
• Nadja Uhl (born 1972), actress

• Olaf von Schilling (born 1943), swimmer
• Helmut Losch (1947–2005), weightlifter
• Jürgen Heuser (born 1953), weightlifter, Olympic medalist
• Monika Kallies (born 1956), rower, Olympic winner
• Silke Möller (born 1964), athlete
• Carsten Embach (born 1968), bobsledder
• Ulrike Maisch (born 1977), long-distance runner
• Eric Koreng (born 1981), beach volleyball player

• Britannica Online Encyclopedia, "Stralsund" (city), 2007, webpage: EB-Stralsund.
• "Stralsund" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). 1911.