page_title: Rügen
section_title: Reunited Germany
hierarchical_section_title: Rügen / History / Reunited Germany
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Kurhaus Seebad Binz Panorama Nachtaufnahme
context_page_description: Rügen is Germany's largest island by area. 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 city of Stralsund, where it is linked to the mainland by road and railway via the Rügen Bridge and Causeway, two routes crossing the two-kilometre-wide Strelasund, a sound of the Baltic Sea.
  Rügen has a maximum length of 51.4 km, a maximum width of 42.8 km in the south and an area of 926 km². The coast is characterized by numerous sandy beaches, lagoons and open bays, as well as projecting peninsulas and headlands. In June 2011, UNESCO awarded the status of a World Heritage Site to the Jasmund National Park, famous for its vast stands of beeches and chalk cliffs like King's Chair, the main landmark of Rügen island.
  The island of Rügen is part of the district of Vorpommern-Rügen, with its county seat in Stralsund.
  The towns on Rügen are: Bergen, Sassnitz, Putbus and Garz. In addition, there are the Baltic seaside resorts of Binz, Baabe, Göhren, Sellin and Thiessow.
context_section_description: In 1990, Rügen became part of the new state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and, together with the neighbouring islands of Hiddensee and Ummanz, formed the district of Rügen. Since the 2011 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern district reforms Rügen has been part of Vorpommern-Rügen.
  In 2007 a second bridge, the Rügen Bridge (Rügenbrücke), was built to replace the first one built in 1936.
  Rügen has now surpassed Sylt as the most popular German island again.
caption: Binz, one of several spas on Rügen, featuring the typical Resort architecture of the German Baltic Sea — Kurhaus (spa hotel) at night
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