Rostock is a city in northern Germany. It is the largest city in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Rostock is located on the Warnow river; the quarter of Warnemünde 12 km north of the city centre lies directly on the coast of the Baltic Sea.

Transport

Rostock can be reached by motorway (Autobahn) A 20 from Hamburg and by A 19 from Berlin. There are connecting flights via Munich to Rostock Laage Airport. Rostock is also home to a large ferry port. It is a main base for ferry operator Scandlines.

Historical notes

In the 11th century there was a Slavic settlement at the Warnow river called Roztoc (which means broadening of a river); the name Rostock is derived from that designation. The Danish king Valdemar I set the town aflame in 1161. Afterwards the place was settled by German traders. At the beginning there were three separate cities, the Altstadt (Old Town) around the Alter Markt (Old Market) with St. Petri (St. Peter's Church), the Mittelstadt (Middle Town) around the Neuer Markt (New Market) with St. Marien (St. Mary's Church) and the Neustadt (New Town) around the Hopfenmarkt (Hops Market, now Universitätsplatz) with St. Jakobi (St. James's Church, now demolished).

The rise of the city began with its membership in the Hanseatic League. In the 14th century it was a powerful seaport town with 12,000 inhabitants and the biggest city of Mecklenburg. Ships for cruising the Baltic Sea were constructed in Rostock. In 1419 the oldest university in Northern Europe, the University of Rostock, was founded.

At the end of the 15th century the dukes of Mecklenburg succeeded in enforcing their rule over the town of Rostock, which had until then been only nominally subjugate to their rule and essentially independent. They took advantage of a riot known as Domfehde, a failed uprising of the impoverished population. Subsequent quarrels with the dukes and persistent plundering led ultimately to a loss of economic and political power.

The strategic location of Rostock provoked the envy of its rivals. Danes and Swedes occupied the city twice, first during the Thirty Years' War (1618-48) and again from 1700 to 1721. Later, the French, under Napoleon, occupied the town for about a decade until 1813. It was here that Blücher, one of few generals to fight on after the battle of Jena, surrendered to the French in 1806.

In the first half of the 19th century Rostock regained much of its economic importance, at first due to the wheat trade, and, from the 1850s, to industry, especially to its shipyards. The first propeller-driven steamers in Germany were constructed there. The city grew in size and population, with new quarters emerging in the south and west of the ancient borders of the city. These were established around 1900:

1. the Steintor-Vorstadt in the south, stretching from the old city wall to the facilities of the new Lloydbahnhof Railway Station (now Hauptbahnhof). It was designed as a living quarter and consists mostly of large single houses, once inhabited by wealthy citizens.

2. the Kröpeliner-Tor-Vorstadt in the west, designed to house the working population as well as smaller and larger industrial facilities such as Mahn & Ohlerich's Brewery (now Hanseatische Brauerei Rostock). The main shipyard, Neptun was just nearby at the shore of the river.

In the 20th century, important airplane manufacturing facilities were situated in the city, such as the Arado Works in Warnemünde and the Heinkel Works with facilities at various places. It was at their facilities in Marienehe where the world's first jet plane made its test flights. Airplane construction ceased at the end of the Second World War.

Large parts of the central city were destroyed in World War II by Allied bombing in 1942 and 1945. Through reconstruction and subsequent extension, the city became a major industrial centre of the German Democratic Republic with the port being developed as the primary gate to the world. In 1989, it had almost 260,000 inhabitants.

Following the reunification of Germany after 1989, Rostock lost its privleged position as the principal seaport of East Germany and became just another medium-sized city, now located in one of the poorest regions of reunited Germany. Because of this, and despite large infrastructure investments, the city's economy has declined. More importantly, its population dropped from 253,000 in 1988 to less than 200,000 today, primarily due to emigration to more prosperous western regions of Germany but also to suburbanisation.

Sights

• One of the most picturesque places in Rostock is the Neuer Markt (New market Square), with the Town Hall (originally built in the 13th century in Brick Gothic style, but extensively transformed in the 18th century, with the addition of a Baroque facade and a Banqueting Hall. The square also preserves six original, beautifully restored, gable houses from the 15th and 16th centuries. (The rest of the old houses in Hanseatic style that once bordered the square were destroyed in an Allied air-raid in 1942.)
  • The 15th-century Kerkhofhaus (at Große Wasserstraße, behind the Town Hall) is considered the best preserved brick Gothic house in Rostock.
  • The Marienkirche (St. Mary's Church), on Ziegenmarkt, an imposing Brick Gothic church. Built in the 13th century, it was enlarged and modified at the end of the 14th century into the present cross-shaped basilica. The huge tower was not completed until the end of the 18th century. Inside there is an astronomical clock built in 1472 by Hans Düringer.
  • The main pedestrian precint is Kröpeliner Straße, that runs east from the Neuer Markt to the 14th-century Kröpeliner Tor, a former town gate. The main buildings of Rostock University, the oldest university in Northern Europe, lie at Universitätsplatz, near the middle of the street, in front of the lively fountain of zest for live (Brunnen der Lebensfreude).
  • The Kloster St Katharinen (Convent of St. Catherine), an old Franciscan monastery founded in 1243, and extended several times during the 14th and 15th centuries. Now used as the seat of the Academy of Music and Theatre (HMT-Rostock).
  • The Brick Gothic Nikolaikirche (St. Nicholas Church), which is the oldest church in Rostock, built in mid-13th century. Heavily damaged during World war II and subsequently restored, the building is now used as an exhibition center and concert hall, due to its outstanding acoustics.
  • Some parts of the medieval city wall, with four remaining town gates.

  Sport teams

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  • Second league (2. Bundesliga) soccer club FC Hansa Rostock

  External links

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  • Official website
  • Rostock at a Glance
  • European Route of Brick Gothic: Rostock
  • A digital visit to Rostock (in German)
  • HMT - University of Music and Theatre / (English version)
  • University of Rostock (anno 1419)
  • German "Bundesliga" soccer club Hansa Rostock

  Cities in Germany | Towns in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania | Hanseatic League

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