Historic Centre of Stralsund

Stralsund, is a Hanseatic town in the Pomeranian part of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is located at the Southern coast of the Strelasund, a sound of the Baltic Sea separating the island of Rügen from the mainland.The Strelasund Crossing with its two bridges and several ferry services connects Stralsund with Rügen. The Western Pomeranian town has been the capital of the Vorpommern-Rügen district since the 2011 district reforms. It is the fourth-largest city of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and, together with Greifswald, Stralsund forms an Oberzentrum, one of four high-level urban centers of the region.

Stralsund was granted city rights in 1234 and was one of the most prospering members of the medieval Hanseatic League. In 1628, during the Thirty Years' War, Stralsund came under Swedish rule and remained so until the upheavals of the Napoleonic Wars.