Zeughaus Wismar
Description of the property
The topographic position of Stralsund and Wismar offered especially favourable conditions for founding settlements. Both cities are situated directly on the shores of the Baltic, which is a reason for the attractiveness, with regard to landscape and architecture, of both towns in the midst of an exceptional coastal environment. Stralsund is situated on the Strelasund, a narrow strip of the Baltic which separates the island of Rügen from the mainland, and is given additional natural protection by the offshore island of Dänholm.
Wismar is located on the south-eastern stretch of Wismar Bay, and the island of Poel situated to the north of the town protects the harbour in a similar way as the island of Dänholm does in Stralsund. However, the way in which the towns relate to the sea differs in each case: whereas the long, narrow harbour basin only touches the old city of Wismar on a short section of the orbital road, the entire eastern side of Stralsund, which faces two artificial islands reclaimed in the 1860s, is open to the water.
From the point of view of traffic geography, inland trade routes met in Stralsund and in Wismar, the position of both towns on the ‘via regia' being of particular importance as this was one of the principal mediaeval trade routes. If one approaches the towns from the sea, the largely unspoiled silhouettes of the old cities are impressive in each case.
