Ahrenshoop is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in the

Vorpommern-Rügen Vorpommern-Rügen is a Districts of Germany, district in the north of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is bounded by (from the west and clockwise) the Baltic Sea and the districts Vorpommern-Greifswald, Mecklenburgische Seenplatte (district), M ...

district, in

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its Anglicisation, anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a Federated state, state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's States of Germany, sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpom ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

on the Fischland-Darß-Zingst peninsula of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

. It used to be a small

fishing village A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 ...

, but is today known for its tourism and as a holiday resort.

Early history

Ahrenshoop was first mentioned in 1311 as the defining point of the border of the town of

Ribnitz Ribnitz-Damgarten () is a town in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, situated on Lake Ribnitz (''Ribnitzer See''). Ribnitz-Damgarten is in the west of the district Vorpommern-Rügen. The border between the historical regions of Mecklenburg and P ...

´s property. In 1328 Duke Heinrich II of

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schwerin, Neubrandenburg, Wismar and Güstrow. ...

donated the area east of this border to the monastery of Ribnitz. In 1395 forces of the City of

Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...

destroyed a stronghold, built by Bogislaw VI. of Pomerania, and the harbour of Ahrenshoop. In 1591 the border between Mecklenburg and

Pomerania Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...

was defined, which runs through the village, still existing today as the "Grenzweg" (border road). After the

Treaty of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (, ) is the collective name for two Peace treaty, peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy R ...

in 1648 the Eastern part of the village became part of

Swedish Pomerania Swedish Pomerania (; ) was a dominions of Sweden, dominion under the Sweden, Swedish Crown from 1630 to 1815 on what is now the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of Germany and Poland. Following the Polish-Swedish War, Polish War and the Thirty Years' War ...

until 1815, when Sweden ceded Pomerania to

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

. Until the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin joined the German

Zollverein The (), or German Customs Union, was a coalition of States of the German Confederation, German states formed to manage tariffs and economic policies within their territories. Organized by the 1833 treaties, it formally started on 1 January 1 ...

in 1868 one had to pay taxes crossing this border. Most of the inhabitants were fishermen or sailors at that time.

Modern times

In 1889 the artist painters Paul Müller-Kaempff and Oskar Frenzel "discovered" the village, deeply impressed by the landscape and started an artist colony which became increasingly popular among artists such as Marianne von Werefkin, Erich Heckel and Gerhard Marcks. The first generation of members of the artist colony included the painters Elisabeth von Eicken, Anna Gerresheim, Friedrich Wachenhusen and, among others, as a guest Karl Rettich. In 1894 Ahrenshoop counted 150 tourists, a number growing to 2158 in 1928. Several artists of the second generation also lived in Althagen and Niehagen, small villages on the Mecklenburg side of the border, among them Gerhard Marcks in Niehagen or Dora Koch-Stetter and her husband :de:Fritz Koch-Gotha in Althagen. These villages have been part of Ahrenshoop since 1950. Today Ahrenshoop is known as an "Artist Spa" and a popular place for artists and celebrities

References

Spa towns in Germany Seaside resorts in Germany Populated coastal places in Germany (Baltic Sea) {{VorpommernRügen-geo-stub