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Satellite Image of Rügen. Photo by NASA.

Top 10 Fun Facts about Rugen Island with chalk cliffs

 Rugen Island is the largest island in Germany located It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

It is linked to the mainland Hanseatic city of Stralsund through a gateway by rail and road.

The island’s coast is characterized by numerous sandy beaches, Bodden, and open bays with projecting peninsulas and headlands.

It is famous for the chalk cliffs like King’s Chair in Jasmund park making it a landmark in Rugen. The island is part of the district of Vorpommern-Rügen, with its county seat in Stralsund.

It is a very popular tourist destination because of its resort architecture, diverse landscape, and four towns: Bergen, Sassnitz, Putbus, and Garz.

Here are 10 fun facts about Rugen Island.

1. It is Germany’s largest island

An island is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat such as water.

Germany has about 50 slow-paced and pristine nature sanctuaries islands in the North and Baltic seas.

Rugen is Germany’s largest island spanning more than 900 square kilometers located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea.

The island has a coast featuring peninsulas, headlands, bays, and beaches making it the biggest in Germany. It is linked to the mainland by road and railway via a bridge and causeway between the island and Stralsund.

2. Its park was awarded the status of a world heritage site

Schwanenstein on the island of Rügen. Photo by Ansgar Koreng.

A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection for having cultural, scientific, historical, or other forms of significance.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization selected the international convention denoted by UNESCO.

The sites must be unique landmark which is geographically and historically identifiable. It must have significant cultural and natural heritage around the world and be considered to have outstanding value to humanity.

In June 2011 Jasmund National park was awarded the status of a World Heritage site for its vast stands of beeches and chalk cliffs like King’s Chair which is the prominent landmark of Rügen island.

On 25th June 2011, the beech forest in the park was also added to the World Heritage Site for the Ancient Beech Forests of Germany and an extension of the Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians.

3. The chalks were formed during the Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous

Chalk Cliff on Rugen Island.Photo by ChWelt.

The Maastrichtian stage is the latest stage of the late Cretaceous Epoch period of the Mesozoic era succeeded by the Danish and preceded by the Campanian periods.

This spanned from 72-66 million years ago and was introduced into scientific literature by Belgian geologist André Hubert Dumont in 1849.

He had studied rock strata of the Chalk Group close to the Dutch city of Maastricht in which the strata are now classified as the Maastricht Formation.

The chalk cliffs of the Jasmund Peninsula that belong to the Rugen chalk unit are classified under the Maastricht formation strata.

4. The main island is surrounded by several peninsulas

Rugen island is a geographical wonder with the vast flora that encompasses the land. The island has two German national parks.

The Western Pomerania Lagoon Area National Park which is Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s largest national park with the unique Darß peninsula and The Jasmund National park world heritage site famous for the chalk cliffs.

The Southeast Rügen Biosphere Reserve also has famous peninsulas in the southeast like the Mönchgut and Zicker peninsulas.

5. The island’s main economy is agriculture

Agriculture is the most significant economic activity in Mecklenburg–West Pomerania.

The fertile morainic soil supports rye, wheat, barley, sugar beets, potatoes, and hay. Corn and peas.

The fertile soil has also aided the state to become one of Germany’s leading producers of rapeseed.

The region’s pastures support herds of sheep, horses, and cattle and in turn supply milk for the production of butter and cheese. Fishing is also carried out in the inland lakes and the Baltic Sea.

Its role is shaping the landscape although Agricultural output makes up only a small percentage of the state’s economic output and employment as it is only dependent in the rural areas of Mecklenburg–West. 

Agriculture is still the main economic activity because nearly two-thirds of the state is covered by farmland and about another one-fifth by forest.

6. There have been discoveries of prehistoric artifacts in the Bodden

Bodden is a briny body of water often forming lagoons, along the southwestern shores of the Baltic Sea.

In the Germany’s state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Bodden discoveries have been made that indicate settlement during the stone age.

Rugen is rich in prehistoric artifacts with the presence of numerous stone monuments such as altar stones and megalithic tombs.

They are believed to originate during the Upper Paleolithic which is the old stone age to the Neolithic new stone age.

During the 1st century, the inhabitants of Rügen were part of the East Germanic tribe of Rugii believed to originate from Scandinavia or evolved from autochthonous tribes that occupied the region naming the Island.

They later became Western Pomerania.

7. It is the most popular holiday destination in Germany

Jasmun Park in Rugen Island.Photo by Moahim.

Rugen island is the most popular island in Germany with its great size that distinguishes it from the rest and unique features like the chalk cliffs.

The island attracts a crowd to enjoy the Beech, bays, and numerous peninsulas.

The world heritage site and prehistoric monuments attract tourists around the world like the famous Bismarck, Sigmund Freud, Thomas Mann, and even Albert Einstein the German Theoretical physician.

It has been one of Germany’s most popular travel destinations for centuries

8. The island was the focal point of Project Rose

Project Rose was designed by the German Democratic Republic to nationalize hotels, taxis, and service companies on the 10th of February 1953.

This was after Rugen became part of the state of Rostock Mecklenburg after the second world war in 1952. Project Rose came into work after a visit by Walter Ulbricht to the island of Rügen annoyed him by the many surviving private hotels and guest houses.

Many of the hotel owners were convicted, their properties confiscated, and sent to prison by kangaroo courts. They were charged with the pretext of having been engaged in economic crime or as agents working for the West.

The hotels were expropriated by the Free German Trade Union Federation and used as accommodation for the barracks-based.

After nearly four decades the island became one of the main tourist areas in the GDR as the FDGB played a dominant role in tourist accommodation.

FDGB set up 7,519-holiday places, the Reisebüro der DDR 2,906 places and a further 5,025 were available for businesses and organizations in 1963

9. The Slavic Rani built an empire on Rugen island

During the 7th century, the West Slavic Rani built an empire on Rügen and the neighboring coast Recknitz and Ryck. 

The empire had great military strength because of the Ranian navy and a favorable location won over Denmark as they dominated the Baltic sea.

They built numerous castles and temples in the Barth-Jasmund-Gristow triangle at the northern tip of Rügen and dedicated to the god Svetovid.

The Ranian administrative center of the empire was Charenza which is arguably the site of the present-day hillfort known as Garz or Venz.

Their main trading center was Ralswiek at the southernmost point of the Großer Jasmunder Bodden.

10. In 1168 the island came under the Danish Principality

Pansevitz Manor House, Rügen Island.Photo by Beauwell.

Valdemar I the Danish king and his army commander and advisor destroyed the Svetovid temple in the hillfort at Cape Arkona.

They ended the territorial and religious autonomy of the Rani. The Rani prince Jaromar I was a vassal of the Danish king and Christianized the island’s inhabitants.

In 1184, the Pomeranians were commissioned by the Holy Roman Emperor to seize Rugen for the empire but were defeated in the bay of Greifswald.

Under Danish rule, the Principality monasteries were established and German colonists were introduced into the land soon they became the largest and most culturally influential group within the population.

The Slavic cultural element disappeared and the Germans influenced the people of Rügen.