The Hanseatic League has become legend. How it emerged as an alliance of northern European merchants and trading towns to become a political superpower is a story in itself. The typical brick architecture reveals the former importance of the Hanseatic League: the buildings are monuments to success, symbols of power and reminders of an idea that remains highly relevant to this day.
Six Hanseatic towns and cities in Mecklenburg- Vorpommern look forward to your visit. They are testament to a construction boom from the 13th to the 16th century. What buildings from 2021 will still stand 500 years from now? Bricks are the foundation of the golden Hanseatic age. They make slender columns possible and evoke the illusion of weight-lessness, while also opening up new decorative possibilities for building facades. A cultural heritage honoured as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and enjoyed by people from around the world.
Urban life inside old walls
Red bricks for eternal monuments: Stralsund Town Hall.
(Image: TMV/Tiemann)
Wismar is characterised by its harbour and brick-gothic charm.
(Image: iStock)
There is much to see in Rostock; the gothic gabled houses are densely packed together, surrounding the idyllic Abbey of the Holy Cross with the Culture Museum. Close by is northern Europe’s oldest univer- sity and on the market square the pink baroque city hall with its seven towers.
The UNESCO World Heritage Town of Stralsund is an impressive sight with its architectural gems: the two town portals, the townhall and the three Churches of St. Nicolas, St. Mary and St. Jacob – giants in brick. The Ozeaneum is a white flash of modernity in the harbour.
The Middle Ages are brought to life in Wismar, whose urban layout has scarcely changed over the centuries. The buildings adorned with blue and yellow flags and the annual Sweden festival are reminders of the period under Swedish rule. The oldtown district has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2002.
Time-honoured Hanseatic and university city
Germany’s largest museum harbour in Greifswald. (Image: iStock)
World-famous painter Caspar David Friedrich was born in Greifswald. During the Romantic era, Greifswald was already considered one of Europe’s oldest university towns. The baroque main building of the university has become a symbol of the townscape, as have the brick townhouses and oxblood-red town hall.
The dream of flight leads to Anklam. Flying enthusiasts can find out all about the aviation pioneer in the Otto Lilienthal Museum. The town walls and the historic centre with its market square and fountain, elegant houses and brick church are just a short walk away.
One of a kind: Demmin today belongs to the New Hanseatic League, although it is not located directly on the Baltic Sea. Demmin is a landmark of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: the high tower of St. Bartholomae Church shapes the rural skyline from all directions.
From Anklam towards the skies. (Image: Wittig, Otto-Lilienthal-Museum)
Embedded in the beautiful countryside: Demmin. (Image: Thomas Grundner)