LOCATION
Greifswald – a city in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, approx. 60 km away from Barth, 37 km from Stralsund, 30 from Wolgast and 165 km from Szczecin. The city is located on the Ryck River near the estuary to the Baltic Sea. There is a marina here, so you can get here not only by car or by train but also by yacht. 54°06′N 13°23′E
SCENIC CHARACTER
The name of the city of Greifswald comes from the griffin, which is the coat of arms of the ducal Griffins dynasty. The city was founded in 1199 when the Cistercians founded the Eldena monastery. Although nowadays only ruins remain, it is worth to visit it and to get to know the history of the place. You can learn e.g. that some of the Griffins dynasty were buried in this place, among them Anna Jagiellonka, called the Mother of the Dukes of Griffins, the wife of Bogusław X and the daughter of the King of Poland. In 1250 the city received town rights from the Duke of Warcisław III. In 1456 the oldest university in Pomerania was established in this city. In front of the University building there is a monument called the Rubenow Monument, depicting the history of the University. Among the figures, there is Duke Warcisław IX co-founder of the University and Duke Bogusław XIV, who, aware of the end of the dynasty, gave the university several villages and the property of the former Cistercian monastery in Edena. This provided the university with over two hundred years of financial independence. After the expiration of the dynasty Duke Ernest Bogusław de Croy gave the University various items, e.g. Rectory insignia which are kept at the local Pommersches Landesmuseum and are still in use. The most valuable exhibit in the Museum is Gobelin Croya – the tapestry, woven with gold, silver and silk (height 454 cm, width 686 cm), is a kind of political and ideological declaration of the Griffins. It portrays Pomeranian and Saxon dukes as well as famous reformers: Marcin Luther, Filip Melanchthon and Jan Bugenhagen. In 2014 Der Croy-Teppich obtained the status of a national cultural treasure in Germany. An excellent copy of the tapestry can be found in the National Museum in Szczecin at the exhibition „The Golden Age of Pomerania”.
ATTRACTIONS
A nice place for tourists in Greifswald is the urban square surrounded by houses built in a Hanseatic style and the Town Hall. The gothic red brick churches characteristic of Pomerania are also worth visiting: Cathedral of St. Nicolaus, Church of St. James and St. Mary’s Church. Greifswald is on the Route of Brick Gothic, the Hanseatic Route and the Road of St. James. Above the river is a historic wooden drawbridge and in close vicinity there are cutters and restaurants where you can eat fresh fish. During a walk around the city make sure to visit the Caspar David Friedrich Museum, who was one of the greatest representatives of Romantic painting. The ruins of the monastery Eldena can be found in some of his paintings.
