Rostock - the melodious name conjures up pictures of sea-going ships, gable houses and Gothic brick churches. It was first mentioned in 1161 in a chronicle by the Danish scholar Saxo Grammaticus. At that time "Roztoc" still stood for a Slavic castle on the east bank of the Warnow. Around 1200 the west bank was populated by German craftsmen and merchants. This trading area was granted the Lübeck town charter rights in 1218. West of the so-called old town centre the development of Mittelstadt with the New Market began in 1232, in 1252 the development of Neustadt. After the middle of the 13th century the three independent settlements united. Between 1270 and 1300 they erected a joint town fortification. In 1323 the town of Rostock acquired the poor fisher village Warnemünde and thereby ensured its direct access to the Baltic Sea.
Trade and shipping have always determined the fate of Rostock. The great prime of the city was in the 14th and 15th centuries. As one of the richest and most important members of the Hanseatic League, Rostock carried on trade as far as Brügge und Riga. The economic prosperity of that time marked the landscape of the town: Medieval municipal halls, such as Kerkhof-Haus, erected around 1470, attest to the patrician self-confidence of that time. The Marienkirche, constructed after 1290 following the example of Lübeck, and the Nikolaikirche, located in the old town centre, still determine Rostock's silhouette. Furthermore, in 1419 with the founding of the first German university in the Baltic region - the alma mater Rostochiensis - Rostock developed into the intellectual centre of the region.
The gradual loss of the importance of the Hanseatic League in the 16th century and the Thirty-Years? War at first brought economic decline to modern Rostock. Since the middle of the 18th century, prosperous sailing and the onset of industrialisation enabled the renewed rise of Rostock. About 1850 Rostock owned the third largest fleet of sailing vessels after Hamburg and Bremen. In 1852 Germany's first seaworthy screw steamer was developed at the Rostock shipyard "Tischbein und Zeltz". In 1891 another shipyard called the "Neptun Schiffswerft und Maschinenfabrik AG" was founded. Between 1923 and 1925 the aircraft industry, represented by Heinkel and Arado, settled in Rostock. In the following years Rostock developed into an important site for armament production.
Rostock was heavily bombed in World War II. Almost half of the private housing areas and numerous monuments were also destroyed during the bombing. Jakobikirche, once the centre of Neustadt, was irretrievably lost.
After 1945 the slow reconstruction of Rostock began. Its location by the sea proved decisive for the further economic development. In 1946 the shipyard Warnowwerft was opened. The construction of the overseas harbour at the Breitling - to date the largest German Baltic harbour - followed between 1957 and 1960. From here a better part of the ferry traffic to northern Europe is conducted. Also the town of Rostock expanded. Primarily on the west bank of the Warnow, several peripheral prefabricated large concrete slab housing complexes were built in the 60s, such as in the town districts of Lichtenhagen, Lütten Klein or Evershagen.
After German Unification in 1990, traditional business branches such as shipbuilding or fish processing became less important for Rostock. The service sector is becoming more important instead. Warnemünde with its beaches is a place of popular resort for tourists and local citizens. The townscape is also changing. The International Horticultural Exhibition - Internationale Gartenbauausstellung (IGA) - in 2003, upgrading the town harbour and the reurbanisation of the former shipyard Neptunwerft are milestones in the process of change.
Tourist-Information
Neuer Markt 3
18055 Rostock
phone: 0381-3812222
fax: 0381-3812602
e-mail: touristinfo@rostock.de
Internet: www.rostock.de