Historic old towns Stralsund and Wismar

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Historic old towns Stralsund and Wismar
UNESCO world heritage UNESCO World Heritage Emblem
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National territory: GermanyGermany Germany
Type: Culture
Criteria : (ii), (iv)
Reference No .: 1067
UNESCO region : Europe and North America
History of enrollment
Enrollment: 2002  (session 26)
Old town Stralsund
Wismar

Historic Centers of Stralsund and Wismar is the name of one of the on 27 June 2002 UNESCO in the "World Heritage List" recorded heritage in Germany.

The area declared a World Heritage Site includes parts of the Hanseatic cities of Stralsund and Wismar in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , which in their uniqueness preserve the Hanseatic heritage.

History of monument protection in Stralsund and Wismar

Both Stralsund and Wismar were part of the medieval merchant alliance of Hanse . They experienced their heyday in the 14th century. Many buildings have been preserved over the centuries.

In both cities was over 600 years Lübeck construction law, part of the Lubeck city law was. The basic idea was fire protection; Wooden buildings should be replaced by brick ones. Stralsund fell victim to a conflagration twice in its early years, and other young cities with wooden buildings were also affected by city fires. That shouldn't be repeated. New buildings were only allowed to be built on the foundation walls, the fire walls of the houses previously located there.

Since the 13th century, building law in Luebeck also stipulated that roads and properties were defined by a line of alignment and their delimitation. No structural changes were allowed to be made that deviated roughly from the previously existing ones. These building lines can still be found today in the streets of the two old towns . Most of the time, however, the roads were somewhat curved due to natural conditions. In contrast, the “Neustadt” of Stralsund in particular around the Neuer Markt has long, straight streets and almost right-angled intersections. The structure of the plot can be seen particularly well from a bird's eye view.

View from Stralsund's Marienkirche to the old town with Nikolaikirche and Jakobikirche

During the Second World War, Wismar was attacked several times by bombers, damaging 10–15% of the residential buildings in the old town and the churches of St. Marien and St. Georgen. In Stralsund, around 15% of the historical building fabric was destroyed in the bombing raid on October 6, 1944 . Vacant lots remained.

After the Second World War, the financial resources for the renovation of old buildings in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) were strictly limited. Private investments in maintaining the buildings were almost impossible. Little could therefore be renewed. Despite the financial hardship, damage to the buildings was largely repaired by the mid-1950s and some gaps were built, with the shape roughly following the tradition of brick Gothic. The limited funds, however, led to the severe deterioration of the historical building fabric and some demolitions.

The damaged Semlower Tor in Stralsund was blown up on June 29, 1960. In Wismar, the Georgenkirche was partially rebuilt in the 1950s ; In 1960, however, the nave of the Marienkirche was blown up.

Nevertheless, the old town of Stralsund was declared an area monument in 1962 and added to the district monument list of the Rostock district in 1968. The old town of Wismar was declared an area monument in 1986.

Since the mid-1970s, monument conservation work began in both cities. In Stralsund, from the 1980s, mainly Polish specialist companies were commissioned to renovate some buildings; the Polish Craftsman's Enterprise Monument Preservation (PKZ) from Szczecin was used by the Polish state to compensate for national debts to the GDR. These were u. a. involved in securing and maintaining the remains of the city ​​wall .

Water art in Wismar

Examples of renovations in GDR times include:

In addition to the recognition of Stralsund as an area monument, there were already efforts during the GDR era to include Stralsund's old town in the world heritage. The old market with the town hall and the Nikolaikirche should be the first contribution of the GDR to the world heritage. For financial reasons (which would have resulted from the resulting obligations) these plans were abandoned again.

A study by the Building Academy of the GDR in 1989 envisaged a new building area for Stralsund in 14 of 66 quarters of the historic old town. The political change in 1989/1990 brought these plans to a quick end. On December 1, 1989, the citizens of Stralsund decided to stop the demolition of the entire old town.

In 1990 both cities began to take stock and plan a comprehensive safeguarding and renovation of the old towns. Stralsund was one of the first five model cities to be included by the federal government in the model city program for urban development funding. Since 1991 Stralsund and Wismar have been in the urban development programs u. a. on the urban monument protection of the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. From 1990 to 2007, federal, state and city funds were used for the renovation of the historic city centers:

  • for the Stralsund old town island with the Frankenvorstadt in the amount of 102.6 million euros and
  • for the old town of Wismar in the amount of 73.5 million euros.

The German Foundation for Monument Protection was also heavily involved under Gottfried Kiesow , who later became an honorary citizen of both Stralsund and Wismar . In Wismar, among other things, the George Church was planned for reconstruction and was heavily supported by the foundation.

Since then, all new buildings have been accompanied by archaeological investigations of the building site by the State Office for Land Monument Preservation.

In 1994, the cities of Stralsund and Wismar were awarded a silver and gold plaque in the federal competition for urban redevelopment.

Location information

Stralsund's old town island, surrounded by water, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The name of the monument, which is located in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in the Federal Republic of Germany , is "Historic Old Towns Stralsund and Wismar". Stralsund and Wismar are directly on the Baltic Sea coast . The coordinates are 54 ° 18 'north latitude and 13 ° 5' east longitude for Stralsund and 53 ° 53 'north latitude and 11 ° 28' east longitude for Wismar.

The nomination area covers 168 hectares (hectares), of which 80 hectares in Stralsund and 88 hectares in Wismar, the buffer zone comprises 448 hectares, of which 340 hectares in Stralsund and 108 hectares in Wismar.

Both cities were founded in the 13th century (Stralsund in 1234 and Wismar in 1229) and have kept their ground plan almost unchanged. They show the typical layout of sea trading towns according to Luebian law. The structure that has been preserved testifies to the great political and economic importance and wealth of the two cities in the Middle Ages.

The application is based on the fact that both cities complement each other in importance. The island location of Stralsund, which, alongside Lübeck, was for a long time the most important city in the Baltic Sea region, particularly emphasizes the city's medieval structure. Wismar, on the other hand, is the only Hanseatic town of this size and cohesion in the Baltic Sea region that has been almost completely closed on the roadside.

Particularly the arrangement of the two cities at pure seaports is a specialty, whereby Wismar's harbor basin has been largely preserved; however, the establishment of the harbor islands in Stralsund in the 19th century never interrupted the connection between the port and the city and the opening of the city to the sea.

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Within the defined areas there are numerous individual monuments, which, however, have not been selected as individual monuments, but as part of the historic old towns as a World Heritage Site. Individual monuments as well as ensembles in both cities are extremely important in terms of cultural history and are listed below as examples.

Stralsund

The Stralsund Marienkirche

The nomination area in Stralsund comprises the area of ​​the old town island, which is limited by the artificially created ponds, the Strelasund and the harbor island, an area of ​​80 hectares.

Within this area are u. a. the following individual features:

Wismar

Old Swede in Wismar

The nomination area in Wismar is the almost circular old town with the “ Grube ” water arm, which was expanded in the 13th century, and the harbor. The railway line in the north, the federal highway 105 in the east and a small-scale built-up area in the southwest border the 88 hectare area.

Within this area are u. a. the following individual features:

Buffer zones

The buffer zone in Stralsund covers 340 hectares. It encloses the area around the city ponds and the city forest. The buffer zone in Wismar covers 108 hectares and forms a strip around the nomination area.

Comparison with other Hanseatic cities

The cities of Bergen , Bremen , Krakow , Lübeck , Novgorod , Riga , Tallinn , Thorn , Wilna (lit .: Vilnius) and Wisby belong to the world heritage of the Hanseatic League . Stralsund and Wismar belonged to Lübeck, Hamburg , Kiel , Lüneburg , Rostock and Greifswald as part of the so-called Wendish quarter of the Hanseatic League. However, they differ fundamentally from the previously recorded Hanseatic cities of the Wendish quarter and the other quarters, so that the recording complements and completes the overall picture of the Hanseatic cities.

The old towns of Stralsund and Wismar are in a better state of preservation than the Lübeck, which suffered greater damage in the Second World War and was therefore only partially included in the World Heritage List. Stralsund ( in the attack on October 6, 1944 ) and Wismar were also damaged, but not as badly as Lübeck. In addition, there were no such new developments in the two East German cities after the war, with partial destruction of the original substance as in the city on the Trave . In addition, the East German cities embody a different era: While Lübeck is representative of the typical maritime trading town of the 13th century, Stralsund and Wismar represent those of the 14th century.

In Bergen, Norway, it is not the city center, but the Bryggen district that has been declared a World Heritage Site. The cityscape of Krakow differs from those of Stralsund and Wismar in terms of the presence of baroque churches, and Krakow is not a representative of the maritime trading cities. The floor plan also differs from that of Stralsund and Wismar because of its division into two parts. Novgorod's importance, on the other hand, does not lie in the overall layout of the city, but in individual monuments. Finally, Riga's importance does not refer to the city center, which was badly damaged in the Second World War, but to the Art Nouveau buildings and wooden houses from the 19th century. Reval (Estonian: Tallinn ) was built mainly from limestone, its well-preserved city center has a two-part floor plan. The Polish Thorn is also a twin city, which fundamentally distinguishes it from Stralsund and Wismar. Vilnius, on the other hand, only had its heyday in the 15th century and was included in the list mainly because of its numerous architectural styles. The Gotland Wisby had its outstanding importance for the world heritage before Stralsund and Wismar, namely in the 12th and 13th centuries. Wisby was also built mainly with limestone and not with brick .

Fulfillment of criteria

Nikolaikirche and town hall in Stralsund

The historic old towns of Stralsund and Wismar meet criteria II and IV of the “operational guidelines” of UNESCO.

Criterion II requires exchange in the areas of architecture, urban planning and art over a significant period of time. Both cities had a significant influence on the exchange within Europe , be it on a cultural, technical, ideological or architectural level. Six Gothic cathedrals made of brick are evidence of the famous Wendish sacral architecture and represent the typical fusion of Italian brick architecture with the cathedral construction of northern France , which was soon to become typical of the Baltic coast. The Stralsund Nikolaikirche was the model for the St. Petri Church in Malmö, the Petrikirche in Riga and the Frauenkirche in Copenhagen ; In addition, during the construction period it was in constant interaction with the Marienkirche in Lübeck . The Stralsund town hall as one of the most important secular buildings of the brick Gothic was a model for numerous buildings in the Baltic Sea area, the facade was a model for that of the Lübeck town hall . The structural upswing in Stralsund after the Peace of Stralsund in 1370 made the "Sundic Gothic", which had developed from 1330, known throughout the Baltic Sea region.

The long association with Sweden in the 17th and 18th centuries gave the cities renewed political importance and close ties to the motherland.

Criterion IV calls for outstanding examples of typical architectural ensembles that show a significant period in human history. Both in Stralsund and in Wismar, the historical town plan has been preserved almost unchanged. The division of parcels and the brick buildings are the required examples for sea trading towns in the heyday of the Hanseatic League. Both cities retained the character of the "stone city", as they always built according to Lübisches building law.

authenticity

Stralsund city map from 1628

In both cities, the urban layout with the streetscape and the subdivision of the buildings, and in Wismar, the harbor basin is still largely authentic. Both cities show an organic homogeneity also in the presence of buildings from different epochs; no attempt was ever made to adapt the cityscape to that of the Hanseatic League. The fact that during the GDR period in both cities financial resources were mainly invested in the construction of new apartments in peripheral areas and less in the preservation of the historical substance had at least the advantage that the original building fabric was preserved and not as in many West German cities New buildings had to give way. Since the political change in 1989/1990, Stralsund and Wismar have also been increasingly renovated, with strict attention being paid to the preservation of monuments .

The area around Stralsund and Wismar has also remained largely authentic. Of course, the situation on the Baltic Sea has not changed; the resulting natural boundaries and the defensive boundaries of the former fortress towns , which u. a. formed by the creation of ponds can still be clearly seen today. The Stralsund ponds have been preserved to this day; in Wismar, the former city limits can still be seen in Wallstrasse.

Thus, the historical old town is still clearly recognizable as the “inner city” in both cities.

application

In the mid-1990s, independently of each other, with the support of the German Foundation for Monument Protection, plans were made for inclusion in the World Heritage in Stralsund and Wismar. After both applications were submitted to the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs , it was decided there to bundle them. This put the two historic old towns together on the seventh place on the German list of proposals in October 1998. The world heritage application was then drawn up together.

The application to include the historic old towns of Stralsund and Wismar in the UNESCO World Heritage List was submitted in English to the World Heritage Committee in Paris in December 2000 . The surrender took place at this point in time in order to circumvent the stricter UNESCO criteria, which were to apply from January 2001 and which were more oriented towards equal distribution worldwide at the time of admission.

World heritage plaque in the Stralsund town hall

decision

At its meeting on 27 June 2002 in the Hungarian Budapest the World Heritage Committee decided to include the historic old towns of Stralsund and Wismar in the list of UNESCO World Heritage.

On May 24, 2003, the President of the World Heritage Committee, Tamás Fejérdy, presented the certificate to Rosemarie Wilcken , Mayor of Wismars, in the Georgenkirche in Wismar. The corresponding ceremony followed on May 25, 2003 in Stralsund's Marienkirche, where Stralsund's Lord Mayor Harald Lastovka received the certificate.

A bronze plaque hanging in the butter aisle of the Stralsund town hall testifies to this important recording, which is also an obligation.

Obligations

In order to contribute to the preservation and protection of other cultural and natural assets as part of the world heritage of mankind , Stralsund and Wismar founded the German World Heritage Foundation in April 2001 . The foundation is currently involved in a. in the primeval forests of Komi ( Russia ), the caves of Dimba and Ngovo ( Congo ) and in Viscri ( Romania ).

public relation

The cities of Stralsund and Wismar are jointly issuing an information sheet called "UNESCO Letter". The magazine Welt-Kultur-Erbe has been published in Stralsund since January 2005 . Exhibitions on brick Gothic or renovation measures and presentations at tourist trade fairs are intended to bring the idea of ​​world heritage closer to a broad audience and of course to draw attention to the travel destination.

Every year, theme-related tours and events are held on the “Open Monument Day”. The "Long Night of the Open Monument" has also been held in Stralsund since 2004.

Friends and sponsors

Stralsund
  • Citizens Committee “Save the Old Town Stralsund e. V. ”(founded on October 24, 1991) - regularly publishes the information magazine“ Giebel & Traufen ”and annually awards the“ Koggensiegel ”for particularly high-quality renovations and new buildings in Stralsund's old town
  • Altstadtmanagement Stralsund e. V.
  • City Marketing Stralsund e. V.
  • Stralsund old town marketing
  • Herbert Ewe Foundation
  • Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstiftung and Sparkasse Vorpommern Foundation
  • Stiftung Kulturkirche St. Jakobi Stralsund
Wismar
  • Wismar Community Foundation, the first community foundation in East Germany (founded in 1998)
  • Old Town Association Wismar
  • Citizens' Initiative Old Town Wismar
  • Community foundation of the Volks- und Raiffeisenbank eG Wismar
  • United Foundations Wismar
  • Anne Zangemeister Foundation for the preservation of the Schabbelhaus City Museum
  • Sponsorship Association & Organ Foundation St. Georgen zu Wismar

literature

  • Brigitte Mayerhofer (Red.): The historic old towns of Stralsund and Wismar. World Heritage Application. Application by the historic old towns of Stralsund and Wismar for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List. VWM Project, Stralsund 2000.
  • Thorsten Albrecht, Gerd Giese, Hans-Joachim Hacker: World Heritage Cities Lübeck, Wismar, Stralsund. Hinstorff-Verlag, Rostock 2004, ISBN 3-356-01035-2 .
  • Hanseatic City of Stralsund, Lower Monument Protection Authority (ed.): Monument plan Stralsund. Research and analysis for the maintenance of the world heritage. Thomas Helms Verlag Schwerin 2013. ISBN 978-3-940207-91-3

Web links

Commons : Stralsund  - Collection of Images
Commons : Wismar  - Collection of Images