• Church of the year 2013: St. Nicholas' Cathedral in Greifswald, © Sven Fischer
    Church of the year 2013: St. Nicholas' Cathedral in Greifswald
  • Symbol of Greifswald and elevated to world fame by the Romantic Caspar David Friedrich: The ruins of Eldena Abbey, © TMV/Grundner
    Symbol of Greifswald and elevated to world fame by the Romantic Caspar David Friedrich: The ruins of Eldena Abbey
  • The merry hustle and bustle in the marketplace by the historic Town Hall of the Hanseatic town of Greifswald, © TMV/Eisele-Hein
    The merry hustle and bustle in the marketplace by the historic Town Hall of the Hanseatic town of Greifswald
  • Quite different architectural trends can be discovered in Greifwald's city centre, © TMV
    Quite different architectural trends can be discovered in Greifwald's city centre

Hanseatic Town of Greifswald

Inspired by the beauty of the town's scenery, the romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich - Greifswald's most famous son - chose the brick buildings as motives for many of his works.

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A university town with historic charm

Situated in the Greifswald Bodden halfway between the islands of Usedom and Rügen lies the Hanseatic town of Greifswald. Gothic brickwork and baroque, Art Nouveau and classicism – all the different stylistic periods are represented here. One of the most splendid and prestigious houses is the university's baroque main building, built by the Swedes in 1750 during their nearly 200-year reign. The university was founded as far back as 1456 and is the second oldest institution of higher learning in northern Europe.

Romantic abbey ruins before the gates of the city

Nowadays, all that remains of Eldena Abbey outside the city are its ruins. One of its greatest admirers was the romantic painter and most famous son of Greifswald: Caspar David Friedrich. He transformed the overgrown Gothic brickwork into a symbol of German romanticism. The prominent Greifswald citizen also immortalised the harbours and marketplaces of the region, perpetual themes were the sea and the ships, the chalk cliffs of Rügen and the old oaks and megalithic tombs in the area. Several now hang in the new Pommersche Landesmuseum (Pomeranian State Museum).

 

Your experts for Greifswald

Tourist Board Greifswald
Website - Tourist Board Greifswald
Telephone: +49 (0) 3834 521-0

Hafenstraße – 17489 Greifswald

Greifswald Museum Harbour

Some of the ships and boats in the museum harbour are more than 100 years old, © Sven Fischer

Gaff ketch and schooner, seaquat and ramship, cruiser and kragejolle - about 45 old ships characterise the image of the museum harbour in Greifswald, which was founded in 1991 following the example of the museum harbours in Flensburg and Hamburg. With this, the Hanseatic townspeople reacted to the increased interest in historic ships and traditional seamanship.

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