Greifswald

Greifswald is a city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, with 56,092 residents as of the end of 2024. Founded in 1199 when Cistercian monks established Eldena Abbey and granted Lubeck town law in 1250, it became home in 1456 to the University of Greifswald, among the oldest universities in Europe and still enrolling about 12,500 students; the birthplace of the Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich, who often painted the ruins of Eldena Abbey, the city is now a hub for the BioCon Valley biotechnology cluster and lies near the onshore terminus of the Nord Stream pipeline.