Book a Rostock Ferry

Rostock Guide

Rostock Guide

Rostock is a city in northern Germany located on the Warnow river on the coast of the Baltic Sea. In the 11th century there was a Slavic settlement at the Warnow river called Roztoc (which means broadening of a river); the name Rostock is derived from that designation. The Danish king Valdemar I set the town aflame in 1161. Afterwards the place was settled by German traders. The rise of the city began with its membership in the Hanseatic League. In the 14th century it was a powerful seaport town with 12,000 inhabitants and the biggest city of Mecklenburg. Ships for cruising the Baltic Sea were constructed in Rostock. In 1419 the oldest university in Northern Europe, the University of Rostock, was founded. Large parts of the central city were destroyed in World War II by Allied bombings in 1942 and 1945. Through reconstruction and subsequent extension, the city became a major industrial centre of the German Democratic Republic.