Stralsund is a Hanseatic town in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is located on the southern coast of the Strelasund, a sound of the Baltic Sea separating the island of Rügen from the mainland. The Strelasund Crossing, with its two bridges and several ferry services, connects Stralsund with Rügen.
The Western Pomeranian town has been the capital of the Vorpommern-Rügen district since the 2011 district reforms. It is the fourth-largest city in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and, together with Greifswald, forms part of Stralsund Form und Oberzentrum, one of four high-level urban centers in the region. Stralsund was founded in 1234 and was one of the most prosperous members of the medieval Hanseatic League.
Since 2002, Stralsund’s old town, with its rich heritage, has been honored as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with Wismar in Mecklenburg. The main industries of Stralsund are shipyards, fishing, mechanical engineering, and, to an increasing degree, tourism, life sciences, services, and high-tech industries, especially IT (Information Technology) and biotechnology.