The Rugard, at , is the highest elevation in the central region of 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 ...

. This push end moraine was formed in the last ice age and lies on the northeastern perimeter of the town of

Bergen auf Rügen Bergen auf Rügen is the capital of the former district of Rügen in the middle of the island of Rügen in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. Since 1 January 2005, Bergen has moreover been the administrative seat of the ''Amt'' of Bergen auf ...

. There was probably a castle here from the 9th century to the year 1325 A.D., in which princes of the Slavic

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 resided. These princes ruled Rügen and parts of the adjacent mainland. The Slavic name ''Rugard'' (German: ''Rujanenburg'') dates to that period. The site had an inner and outer ward and covered an area of 2.3 hectares. When the Rani's princely line ended in 1325 with the death of Wizlaw III, the castle lost its importance and fell into disrepair. Some of its ramparts have survived, however, and may still be made out today. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

there was a mill here and the area was used for agriculture. Until 1830, when 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 ...

(1783-1854) had the ramparts reforested, the Rugard was treeless.

Karl Friedrich Schinkel Karl Friedrich Schinkel (13 March 1781 – 9 October 1841) was a Prussian architect, city planner and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed both neoclassic ...

captured its former appearance in his 1821 painting ''Der Rugard auf Rügen'' ("The Rugard on Rügen"). Over time, a forest grew up, consisting mainly of

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfam ...

and

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family (biology), family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanic ...

trees, interrupted by small stands of oak,

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' cont ...

and poplar as well as many other deciduous and coniferous trees. The native

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 ...

is barely represented. In 1984, a 2.5 km

nature trail An educational trail (or sometimes educational path), nature trail or nature walk is a specially developed hiking trail or footpath that runs through the countryside, along which there are marked stations or stops next to points of natural, tec ...

was established that runs through the Rugard Forest (''Rugardwald'') where visitors are able to learn about the variety of animal and plant life in this historic countryside from the various information boards. From the Ernst Moritz Arndt Tower on the top of the Rugard, visitors have a panoramic view over the entire island. This tower was built in the 1870s as a monument to

Ernst Moritz Arndt Ernst Moritz Arndt (26 December 1769 – 29 January 1860) was a German nationalist historian, writer and poet. Early in his life, he fought for the abolition of serfdom, later against Napoleonic dominance over Germany. Arndt had to flee to Swe ...

, who was born in Groß Schoritz on Rügen. The foundation stone was laid on 26 December 1869, the 100th anniversary of the poet. They chose a design by Berlin architect and builder,

Hermann Eggert Georg Peter Hermann Eggert (3 January 1844 – 12 March 1920) was a German architect. He designed important public buildings such as the Frankfurt Main Station and the New Town Hall in Hannover, often in the style of Neo-Renaissance. Career Bo ...

, and began construction in Autumn 1872. However, the work was not completed until 1877 due to a lack of money. In the 1930s the forest around the Rugard reached such a height that there was no longer a clear, all-round view from the topmost gallery of the tower. Between 1935 and 1937, a

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

Thingplatz A ''Thingspiel'' (plural ''Thingspiele'') was a kind of multi-disciplinary outdoor theatre performance which enjoyed brief popularity in pre-war Nazi Germany during the 1930s. A Thingplatz or Thingstätte was a specially-constructed outdoor a ...

'' was built here, which was mainly used by the

Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...

. During thorough renovations carried out from 2000 to 2002, it was decided to replace the 1955 wooden dome with a dome of glass and steel (whilst maintaining its historical shape) and thus provide a higher viewing platform.

External links

{{Coord, 54, 25, 4, N, 13, 26, 48, E, type:landmark_region:DE, display=title Geography of Rügen History of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania History of Pomerania Castles in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Bergen auf Rügen Thingplatz Principality of Rügen