Historic Centres of Stralsund and Wismar

Wismar and Stralsund were founded at good anchorages in the late 12th or early 13th century, as part of the German colonization of Slav territories. Wismar is first mentioned in 1229 and Stralsund in 1234; both received town statutes under Lübeck Law and built defensive walls. In 1293 they joined the Hanseatic League together with Lübeck, Rostock and Greifswald.

Stralsund emerged as a leader from a war in 1316 and became the most powerful city in Pomerania. On 24 March 1370 the Peace of Stralsund, negotiated between the Cologne Federation of Hanseatic and Dutch towns and the Kingdom of Denmark, strengthened the Hansa as a power at European level. A building boom from 1330 to 1380 produced a distinct form of brick architecture known as Sundische Gotik, and Stralsund's town hall influenced town halls across the southern Baltic.

After the Thirty Years' War (1618-48) both towns came under Swedish rule, and the Royal Swedish Tribunal, the supreme court for all of Sweden's German possessions, was set up in the princely court of Wismar. Stralsund became the political capital of Swedish Western Pomerania, while Wismar kept a Swedish link until 1903. Both historic centres survived the air raids of the Second World War, and they were inscribed in 2002.