Stralsund

Stralsund is a Baltic Sea port city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, with 54,094 residents as of the end of 2024. Granted city rights in 1234, the oldest in the historic region of Pomerania, it flourished as a member of the medieval Hanseatic League and kept considerable independence throughout its history; its old town, an outstanding example of Brick Gothic architecture whose St. Mary's Church was briefly the world's tallest structure between 1625 and 1647, was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site jointly with Wismar in 2002, and the city today draws tourists to its German Oceanographic Museum and Ozeaneum aquarium.