Wreechen is a village in the borough of
Putbus
Putbus () is a town on the southeastern coast of the island of Rügen, in the county of Vorpommern-Rügen in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, close to the Baltic Sea. The town has 4,741 inhabitants and is a significant tourist destinat ...
on the German
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
island of
Rügen
Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, where ...
.
Location
The village lies in picturesque countryside between the lake of
Wreecher See
The Wreecher See is a cove, southwest of the town of Putbus on the German Baltic Sea island of Rügen.
The bay is named after the village of Wreechen on its eastern shore. On its southern shore are the settlements of Glowitz and Neukamp.
This b ...
to the west and the Baltic Sea bay of
Rügischer Bodden
The Rügische Bodden is a bay which is part of a larger stretch of water, the Greifswalder Bodden, bounded on two sides by the German mainland and on a third by the Baltic Sea island of Rügen. It is located southeast of Rügen island between Mö ...
to the east. It lies strung out along the roughly north–south running road from Putbus to
Neukamp. Northwest of the village is the farmstead of the former
Wreechen Watermill which now houses a small exhibition of sculptures and email art.
History
Wreechen was first mentioned in 1318.
[Hanswilhelm Haefs, Ortsnamen und Ortsgeschichten auf Rügen mitsamt Hiddensee und Mönchgut, BoD, Books on Demand, 2003, , page 101] The name may be derived from the Slavic ''Vrechy'', which means "nut", suggesting that it was originally a settlement with a number of nut trees.
As early as the 14th century the settlement had been divided into Groß and Klein Wreechen ("Great Wreechen" and "Little Wreechen"). Klein Wreechen covered the land around the watermill at Wreechen. In the 16th century there is evidence of the existence of a pub there. Groß Wreechen was the actual farming village. Initially there was one farm there. In 1532 Groß Wreechen is recorded as having two farms and two cottages. Both Wreechens belonged to the estate of the lords of Putbus.
The watermill was first mentioned in 1396. In 1794, a
post windmill was built for the miller to replace the watermill as a result of the lack of water. Another
windmill
A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called windmill sail, sails or blades, specifically to mill (grinding), mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and ...
, used collectively by the smaller farmers, was located east of the village. The post mill was burnt down in an arson attack in 1899. In 1927 Wreechen was connected to the electricity and the communal mill closed. The watermill remained in operation until 1936.
After
the Wende
The Peaceful Revolution (german: Friedliche Revolution), as a part of the Revolutions of 1989, was the process of sociopolitical change that led to the opening of East Germany's borders with the West, the end of the ruling of the Socialist Unity ...
in 1989, a variety of buildings were erected in Wreechen. They did not change the fundamental appearance of the village, but the original
dispersed settlement
A dispersed settlement, also known as a scattered settlement, is one of the main types of settlement patterns used by landscape historians to classify rural settlements found in England and other parts of the world. Typically, there are a numb ...
now rather resembles a
linear village
Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship (''function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear r ...
.
Economy
The village is dominated by tourism. There are small to medium-sized accommodation providers.
See also
*
Wreechener See Nature Reserve
The Wreechener See Nature Reserve (german: Naturschutzgebiet Wreechener See) is a nature reserve in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It lies 2 kilometres south of the town of Putbus and has an area of 72 hectares. It was placed unde ...
References
{{authority control
Putbus
Villages in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania
Towns and villages on Rügen
Vorpommern-Rügen