Zirkow 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' ...

on the German

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 ...

island of

Rügen Rügen (; Rani: ''Rȯjana'', ''Rāna''; , ) 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 ci ...

in the county of

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 ...

in the state of

Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in population; it covers an are ...

Geography

Zirkow lies in the

Southeast Rügen Biosphere Reserve The Southeast Rügen Biosphere Reserve () is a biosphere reserve in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, which covers the southeastern part of the island of Rügen (including Granitz and Mönchgut), the lagoon of Rügischer Bodden betwe ...

between the small town 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 ...

and the Baltic Sea resort of

Binz Binz is the largest seaside resort city 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 "na ...

. In the northeast it borders on the lake of

Schmachter See Schmachter See is a lake near Binz on the German Baltic Sea island of Rügen. It lies within the county of Vorpommern-Rügen in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. It has an elevation of 1.1 metres above sea level and its surface area is 1.18 ...

near Binz.

Municipal divisions

Within the municipality of Zirkow are the following villages: Alt Süllitz, Dalkvitz, Nistelitz, Pantow, Schmacht, Serams and Viervitz.

History

The village of Zirkow was first documented in 1495. The place name comes from the

Slavic Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to: Peoples * Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia ** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples ** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples ** West Slav ...

''Sirakov'' and means "place of Sirak". To 1326 the area was part of the

Principality of Rügen The Principality of Rügen was a Medieval Denmark, Danish principality, formerly a duchy, consisting of the island of Rügen and the adjacent mainland from 1168 until 1325. It was governed by a local dynasty of princes of the ''Wizlawiden'' (''Hou ...

and, thereafter, the

Duchy of Pomerania The Duchy of Pomerania (; ; Latin: ''Ducatus Pomeraniae'') was a duchy in Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, ruled by dukes of the House of Pomerania (''Griffins''). The country existed in the Middle Ages between years 1121–11 ...

. Under 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 Rügen, and thus Zirkow, came under

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

rule, having previously belonged to the

. In 1815 the parish, along with West Pomerania, went into the Prussian Province of Pomerania. In 1818, Zirkow became part of the county of

Landkreis Rügen In 13 German states, the primary administrative subdivision higher than a '' Gemeinde'' (municipality) is the () or (). Most major cities in Germany are not part of any ''Kreis'', but instead combine the functions of a municipality and a ''Kr ...

, apart from a short spell from 1952 to 1955 when it was in the County of Putbus. It remained until 1990 in

Kreis Rügen Kreis is the German word for circle. Kreis may also refer to: Places * , or Circle (administrative division), various subdivisions roughly equivalent to counties, districts or municipalities ** Districts of Germany (including and ) ** Former ...

in the district 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 ...

and became, in the same year, part of the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. From 1990, the county was renamed Landkreis Rügen until 2011 when it became part of the new county of Vorpommern-Rügen.

Sights

Brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

church with a fieldstone base from the 1st half of the 15th century, see St. John's Church, Zirkow * Historic village centre with protected

thatched Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge ('' Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

timber-framed Timber framing () and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy Beam (structure), timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and Woodworking joints, joined timbers with joints secure ...

houses * Museum farm with the ''Rügenhaus'' * Schmachter See and Fangerien Nature Reserve * Hill of ''Rügener Jungfrau'' ("Rügen Virgin"), the so-called ''Busenberge'' ("bosom hills")

References

External links

Official website of Zirkow
{{Authority control Towns and villages on Rügen