The Ryck is a
river in
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern,
Germany.
From its source near
Bartmannshagen, part of the
Süderholz
Süderholz is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Rügen district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europ ...
community northeast of
Grimmen, the Ryck flows for about to the east, reaching
Greifswald shortly before its mouth. The larger part of the river outside Greifswald is also referred to as ''Ryckgraben''. In Greifswald, the Ryck provided both the medieval
Hanseatic port and natural
salt evaporation ponds, as due to the low elevation,
hypersaline water of the
Baltic Sea is driven into the river by the wind, flooding the lower meadows on the Ryck's northern bank.
In the
High Middle Ages, the Ryck marked the southern border of the
Principality of Rügen and the northern border of the
County of Gützkow. West of Greifswald, the Ryck fed the ''Boltenhägener Teich'', a medieval lake.
The old Hanseatic port in Greifswald is now an open-air ship museum.
Image:Caspar David Friedrich 043.jpg, "Meadows near Greifswald" Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich (5 September 1774 – 7 May 1840) was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his mid-period allegorical landscape ...
, 1820 (depicting the area used for salt evaporation)
File:Greifswald_Museumshafen_StbBr.JPG, Old port, downtown Greifswald, view from Steinbecker bridge
File:Greifswald Museumshafen.JPG, Old port, downtown Greifswald, view from pedestrians' bridge
Image:Greifswald-Wieck_3.jpg, Old bridge in Greifswald-Wieck
Image:Greifswald Wieck.jpg, Mouth at Greifswald-Wieck
File:Greifswald im Mittelalter (Rekonstruktion Theodor Pyl).jpg, Map of medieval Greifswald showing ''Boltenhäg(en)er Teich'' and the confluence of the ''Baberow'', neither of which now exist.
Rivers of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Federal waterways in Germany
Rivers of Germany
{{Mecklenburg-river-stub