Wolgast - History

History

The precursor of present-day Wolgast was a Wendish stronghold, the fort Hologast (alt. Wołogoszcz, Ołogoszcz). In 1123, Hologast surrendered to the Pomeranian duke Wartislaw I. In 1128, the Wends were baptized by Otto of Bamberg, who destroyed a local Gerowit temple and set up the St-Petri Church at that site. German settlers populated the growing town soon after, and the city of Wolgast was granted Lübeck law by Wartislaw III in 1282.

Wolgast was residence of the Pomeranian dukes from 1285 until the ruling House of Pomerania went extinct in 1637. Capital of Pomerania-Wolgast, a longtime inner partition of the duchy, a residential palace was built in Renaissance style on an island hence called Schloßinsel (palace island). The ducal line of Pomerania-Wolgast went extinct when Philipp Julius died without issue.

During the Thirty Years' War, the Swedish Empire occupied Wolgast in 1630 and kept it as a part of Swedish Pomerania until 1815. The former ducal palace decayed, and the town was burned down in 1713 by Russian forces during the Great Northern War, in retaliation for Swedish arson in Altona. Only the church, four chapels and four more buildings were spared by the fire. Most houses of the Old Town therefore date back to the 18th and 19th centuries, the townhall was renewed after the fire in baroque style.

After the Swedish withdrawal from Pomerania in 1815, the city was integrated into the Prussian Province of Pomerania. Last remnants of the palace were removed in 1849. Wolgast prospered throughout the 19th century as a port for grain trade.

Wolgast lost its status as a Kreis capital on June 12, 1994, when Kreis Wolgast was merged into Kreis Ostvorpommern, which became part of Vorpommern-Greifswald in 2011.