Wyk auf Föhr
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( ''Fering'' North Frisian: ''Wik'', ''a Wik'', or ''Bi a Wik''; da, Vyk på Før) is the only town on Föhr, the second largest of the North Frisian Islands on the
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
coast of the North Sea. Like the entire island it belongs to the district of
Nordfriesland Nordfriesland (; da, Nordfrisland; frr, Nordfraschlönj ), also known as North Frisia, is the northernmost district of Germany, part of the state of Schleswig-Holstein. It includes almost all of traditional North Frisia (with the exception o ...
. Wyk includes the two minor town districts of Boldixum and Südstrand.


Geography

Wyk is situated on the southeastern edge of the island. About 4,500 inhabitants live there, but during the tourist seasons 20,000 or more people will stay there. It serves as a regional centre for the islands of Föhr and Amrum, providing shopping centres, doctors, a post office, etc. and it is the seat of the ''Amt''
Föhr-Amrum Föhr-Amrum is an ''Amt'' ("collective municipality") in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The ''Amt'' covers the islands Föhr and Amrum. Its seat is in Wyk auf Föhr. Föhr-Amrum was created on 1 January 2007 as a mer ...
and the social care centre for the islands. The approximately 4,200 other inhabitants of Föhr proper live in other villages on the island. Wyk's major source of income is the tourism business.


History and tourism

In 1704, Wyk was granted the rights of a seaport, two years later, the rights of a market town were awarded. In 1819 a seaside spa was established, being the first of its kind in Schleswig-Holstein. Thereby the state began to level up with the Baltic Sea region ( Heiligendamm, 1794 and the
East Frisia East Frisia or East Friesland (german: Ostfriesland; ; stq, Aastfräislound) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia ...
n North Sea area ( Norderney, 1794). In the first year, 61 guests were recorded, in 1820 there were 102, but only from 1840 on the numbers exceeded 200. From 1842 to 1847 the
Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...
king
Christian VIII Christian VIII (18 September 1786 – 20 January 1848) was King of Denmark from 1839 to 1848 and, as Christian Frederick, King of Norway in 1814. Christian Frederick was the eldest son of Hereditary Prince Frederick, a younger son of King Frederi ...
chose Wyk as his summer resort, which attracted numerous new tourists. In 1844
Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...
followed his king to Wyk and is known to have said about Wyk's beach: "I bathed every day and I must say it was the most remarkable water I have ever been in". But Andersen also criticized the problems of journeying there. For example, from Hamburg, on the road, a traveller needed four days to reach Föhr, by ship via Heligoland, it took two days only but included the danger of sickness. In 1910 Wyk was granted full town rights. Wyk's promenade ''Sandwall'' does not only offer a view on the sea, but also a view on the Halligen, already beloved by king Christian. It is counted among Germany's most beautiful seaside promenades. Not at least due to the high number of sanitoriums and recovery institutions, Wyk is a highly frequented spa throughout the year. In 2002 Wyk belonged to the ten most important centers of
tourism in Schleswig-Holstein Tourism is an important economic factor for Germany's northernmost state of Schleswig-Holstein. Thanks to its coasts on the North Sea in the west and Baltic Sea in the east, Schleswig-Holstein has a great variety of beaches and water sports faci ...
: 46,368 guests, 325 (0.7%) of which from foreign abroad, booked 492,041 overnight stays. The town had 4,733 beds to offer.


Sights

Inside Wyk's town limits, in the ''Olhörn'' area, there is a minor
lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...
. Frisian customs and the history of Wyk are documented at the Dr. Carl Haeberlin Museum, whose entrance portal is made up of two whale jaw bones. The church of St. Nicolas is a roman style building from the 13th century, situated in the Boldixum town district. It has got a colourful and amply decorated interior.


Traffic

Wyk is the only harbour of Föhr, providing a ferry port, a fisheries and freight port and a
marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...
. From the ferry port, several sailings per day are scheduled to the mainland port of Dagebüll while other ferries depart in the opposite direction towards the island of Amrum. Most ferries to Dagebüll have a train connection from there to Hamburg via Niebüll. The ferries are operated by ''Wyker Dampfschiffsreederei Föhr-Amrum GmbH'' whose seat is in Wyk. Other than scheduled ferrying, foray tours are offered to the Halligen of Langeneß and Hooge and in the summer season, passenger ferries sail to
Hörnum ( Sölring Frisian: ''Hörnem'', Danish: ''Hørnum'') is a municipality in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is located on the southern headland of the island of Sylt. The municipality is part of the ''Amt'' La ...
on Sylt. Wyk can moreover be reached by small planes via an airstrip, a daily flight schedule connects Föhr and Sylt during the summer season. Bus lines connect to the villages of the island.


Education

Wyk has a high school ( Gymnasium), a '' Realschule'' with ''
Hauptschule A ''Hauptschule'' (, "general school") is a secondary school in Germany, starting after four years of elementary schooling (''Grundschule''), which offers Lower Secondary Education (Level 2) according to the International Standard Classification ...
'' part, an elementary school including a
special school Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...
and a Danish school. The town also hosts a branch of Nordfriesland's District School of Music.


Health care

A district hospital serves the population of Föhr and Amrum. Moreover, a number of sanitoriums are located in town, among them a clinic for oncology, an institution for mothers with children and several other private and public clinics. There is also an old people's home.


Politics

The local council has 17 members. Since the municipal elections of 2013, the distribution of seats in the town council is as follows: * ''Kommunale Gemeinschaft''(Local community): 5 * CDU: 5 *
SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...
: 4 *
Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
: 3


Arms

Blazon: Gules. On a base azure, wavy, a shipwrecked 17th-century full-rigged ship or, without sails and with broken tops. In chief a mullet of six rays or. Motto: ''"Incertum quo fata ferunt".'' From Latin it translates roughly to "Uncertain (it) is where fate carries us".


Town twinning

* Mittenwald, Germany


Media

Wyk is the seat of the editorial office of the daily paper '' Der Insel-Bote''.


Notable people


Born in Wyk

* Stine Andresen (1849–1927), poet * Friedrich Christiansen (1879–1972), Luftwaffe General, Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht in the Netherlands * Knud Broder Knudsen (1912–2000), politician *
Hans von Storch Hans von Storch (born 13 August 1949) is a German climate scientist. He is a professor at the Meteorological Institute of the University of Hamburg, and (since 2001) Director of the Institute for Coastal Research at the Helmholtz Research Centre ( ...
(born 1949), climate researcher and meteorologist * Arfst Wagner (born 1954), Waldorf school teacher and editor * Olaf Jürgen Schmidt (born 1981), German author and theater director


Affiliated with Föhr

*
Sidonie Werner Sidonie Werner (16 March 1860 – 27 December 1932) was a German Jewish schoolteacher and feminist based in Hamburg. She was active in the German League of Jewish Women which she founded in 1904, together with Bertha Pappenheim. In 1929, she orga ...
(1860–1932), politician. Founded a sanitorium for Jewish children endangered by tuberculosis (1927–1938) in Wyk. *
Carl Haeberlin Carl Haeberlin (15 December 1870 – 12 November 1954), sometimes also spelled Häberlin, was a German physician and natural historian. He was influential for the development of climatotherapy and thalassotherapy in Germany and founded the ''Dr. C ...
(1870–1954), founder of the Frisian museum in Wyk and researcher of Frisian history; pioneer of thalassotherapy *
Hellmuth von Mücke Hellmuth von Mücke (21 June 1881 – 30 July 1957) was an Officer of the Kaiserliche Marine, the navy of the German Empire, in the early 20th century and World War I. Early life Mücke was born on 21 June 1881 in Zwickau, Saxony. He was a son ...
(1881–1957), officer of the Imperial Navy, lived in Wyk 1929–1940 *
Hans-Jürgen von Maydell Hans-Jürgen is a given name. Notable people with the name include: * Hans-Jürgen Abt of Abt Sportsline, a motor racing and auto tuning company based in Kempten im Allgäu, Germany * Hans-Jürgen von Arnim (1889–1962), German colonel-general (Ge ...
(born 1932), silviculture scientist, graduated from high school in Wyk in 1954 * Heidrun Hesse (1951–2007), Professor of Philosophy, died in Wyk * Stanfour, a rock band


Honorary citizens

* Ernst von Prittwitz und Gaffron (1833–1904), Prussian Lieutenant General and knight of the
Order of St. John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headqu ...


References


External links


Homepage of Wyk auf Föhr
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyk auf Fohr Towns in Schleswig-Holstein Port cities and towns of the North Sea Föhr Seaside resorts in Germany Nordfriesland Populated coastal places in Germany (North Sea)