Greifswald

Town in the Land (administrative region) of Mecklenburg–West Pomerania, Germany, on the River Ryck, 84 km/52 mi east of Rostock; population (2005 est) 53,300. Its university dates from 1456. The town's chief industries are fish-preserving and mechanical and marine engineering. There are many medieval houses and a 13th-century church.

Greifswald was formerly a member of the medieval trade federation the Hanseatic League. To the east is Peenemünde, where V–rockets were developed during World War II. At the end of the war, Greifswald surrendered to advancing Allied forces without resistance and was spared destruction.

The town was the birthplace of the Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich in 1774.

History Greifswald grew up around the maritime trade and the colonizing activities of the Cistercians, who founded the Hilda Monastery in the district in 1199. The port was established by Dutch merchants in 1240, and became an important member of the Hanseatic League, a confederation of trading cities.

Features Religious foundations include the Gothic–baroque cathedral of St Nicholas, dating from the 13th century but subsequently much altered; and other churches built in the 13th to 16th centuries. It is the seat of a Lutheran bishopric. There is also a medieval Rathaus (town hall). A number of Greifswald's historic buildings were damaged during the Thirty Years' War (1618–48), during a siege of the city by the Catholic general Wallenstein.