The Granitz is a wooded ridge in the southeast of Germany's largest island,

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 ...

, between the

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 ...

resorts of

Binz Binz is the largest seaside resort on the German island of Rügen. It is situated between the bay of Prorer Wiek and the ''Schmachter See'' (a lake) in the southeast of the island. To the north of Binz stretches the Schmale Heide (the "narrow he ...

and

Sellin Sellin is a municipality on the Island of Rügen, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. History First mentions of Sellin date to 1295. From 1880 on, the town gained importance as a Baltic Sea spa town. After the '' Wende'' in 1989, the buildin ...

. The woods cover an area of 982 hectares and are designated as a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological o ...

. Since 1991 they have been part of the

Southeast Rügen Biosphere Reserve The Southeast Rügen Biosphere Reserve (german: Biosphärenreservat Südost-Rügen) is a biosphere reserve in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which covers the southeastern part of the island of Rügen (including Granitz and Mönch ...

. Characteristic of the Granitz are its rich stands of

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engl ...

and sessile oak and its rolling landscape of push end moraines, which in some ways resemble a mountain landscape. To the north and east the Granitz is bounded by a

cliffed coast A cliffed coast, also called an abrasion coast, is a form of coast where the action of marine waves has formed steep cliffs that may or may not be precipitous. It contrasts with a flat or alluvial coast. Formation In coastal areas in whic ...

on the Baltic Sea. In the south it adjoins the

Mönchgut Mönchgut (''Monk's Estates'' in German) is a peninsula of 29.44 square kilometers with 6600 inhabitants in the southeast of Rügen island in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. It lies just between the Greifswalder Bodden and the rest of ...

region and in the north, the narrow

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar ( ...

of the

Schmale Heide The Schmale Heide (literally "Narrow Heath") is a 9.5-kilometre-long and roughly 2-kilometre-wide bar between the Baltic seaside resort of Binz and the village of Neu Mukran near Sassnitz on the German island of Rügen. It lies in the municipali ...

. The Black Lake (''Schwarzer See'') lies in the Granitz as do several

kettle bog A kettle (also known as a kettle lake, kettle hole, or pothole) is a depression/hole in an outwash plain formed by retreating glaciers or draining floodwaters. The kettles are formed as a result of blocks of dead ice left behind by retreating gl ...

s. A number of non-native stands of conifers are being turned into a near-natural forest. No roads of any description run through the Granitz, but there are many cycle and footpaths. Local transport and access to the area is provided by the Rügen Light Railway and Binz Seaside Railway (''Binzer Bäderbahn''). On the highest point, the Tempelberg (), Prince

Wilhelm Malte I Wilhelm Malte I, Fürst und Herr zu Putbus (1783 – 1854) was a German prince (''Fürst'') from the old Slavic-Rügen noble family of the lords of Putbus. He acted as a Swedish governor in Swedish Pomerania and later, under Prussian rule, as ...

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 destina ...

had the

Granitz hunting lodge Granitz Hunting Lodge (german: Jagdschloss Granitz) is located on the German island of Rügen in the vicinity of the seaside resort of Binz. With over 200,000 visitors per year it is the most popular castle or ''schloss'' in Mecklenburg-Vorpomm ...

constructed in the 19th century. Other landmarks include Granitz House, the grave site of Finnish warriors and the Cross Oak (''Kreuzeiche''). The name is probably of Slavic origin and comes from the personal name, ''Granza'', used by the

Rani ''Rani'' in Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, sometimes spelled ''Ranee'', is a Hindu/Sanskrit feminine given name. The term is the female form of the term for princely rulers in South and Southeast Asia and applies equally to the wife of a ...

tribe, which first appears as a prince's name in the ''

Saxo Grammaticus Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1150 – c. 1220), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark ...

'' in 1168. In 1888, the ''Waldhalle'', a tourist restaurant, was built on the hill of ''Falkenberg'' on the clifftop path from Binz to Sellin near the coast. The building had to be abandoned and demolished in the 1980s as a result of coast collapse. Only a few remains of foundations on the

cliff In geography and geology, a cliff is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on co ...

face of the Baltic Sea coast recall the existence of the building. Herbst in der Granitz.jpg, Autumn in the Granitz 20220214 Sankt Andreas Kirche - Lancken Granitz.jpg, Church of Sankt Andreas in Lancken Granitz Binz vom Jagdschloss Granitz.JPG, View over the foothills of the Granitz from the hunting lodge (a castle) looking towards

Island Finnischerkrieger.jpg, Grave of a Finnish warrior

References

{{Authority control Geography of Rügen Forests and woodlands of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

See also

References