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Stralsund (ˈʃtʁaːlzʊnt; Swedish: Strålsund), officially the Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German: Hansestadt Stralsund), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin, Neubrandenburg and Greifswald, and the second-largest city in the Pomeranian part of the state. It is located on the southern coast of the Strelasund, a sound of the Baltic Sea separating the island of Rügen from the Pomeranian mainland. The Strelasund Crossing with its two bridges and several ferry services connects Stralsund with Rügen, the largest island of Germany and Pomerania. The Western Pomeranian city is the seat of the Vorpommern-Rügen district and, together with Greifswald, Stralsund forms one of four high-level urban centres of the region. The city's name as well as that of the Strelasund are compounds of the Slavic (Polabian) stral and strela (arrow; Polish: strzała, Czech: střela) and the Germanic sund, a strait or sound. The canting arms of the city make reference to that etymology as well as to Stralsund's Hanseatic past in featuring a silver cross pattée (a Hanseatic Cross) above a silver arrow. Stralsund was granted city rights in 1234 and is thus the oldest city in Pomerania. It was one of the most prosperous members of the medieval Hanseatic League. In 1628, during the Thirty Years' War, the city came under Swedish rule and remained so until the upheavals of the Napoleonic Wars. It was the capital of Swedish Pomerania (New Western Pomerania) from 1720 to 1815. From 1815 to 1945, Stralsund was part of Prussia. Stralsund's old town was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002 alongside Wismar in Mecklenburg because of its outstanding Brick Gothic buildings and importance during the Hanseatic League and Swedish rule. St Mary's Church has been the tallest church in the world from 1549 to 1569 and from 1573 to 1647. The city's other two large churches are St Nicholas' and St James'.

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Related concepts (43)

Stralsund

Duchy of Pomerania

The Duchy of Pomerania (Herzogtum Pommern; Księstwo pomorskie; Latin: Ducatus Pomeraniae) was a duchy in Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, ruled by dukes of the House of Pomerania (Griffins). The country had existed in the Middle Ages, in years 1121–1160, 1264–1295, 1478–1531 and 1625–1637. The duchy originated from the realm of Wartislaw I, a Slavic Pomeranian duke, and was extended by the Lands of Schlawe and Stolp in 1317, the Principality of Rügen in 1325, and the Lauenburg and Bütow Land in 1455.

Mecklenburg

Mecklenburg (ˈmeːklənbʊʁk; Mękel(n)borg ˈmɛːkəl(n)bɔrx) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin, Neubrandenburg, Wismar and Güstrow. The name Mecklenburg derives from a castle named Mikilenburg (Old Saxon for "big castle", hence its translation into Neo-Latin and Greek as Megalopolis), located between the cities of Schwerin and Wismar.