DEUTSCHLAND	GERMANY
Bundesland: Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	Mecklenburg-West Pomerania
Landkreis: Vorpommern-Rügen

map →

The Baltic Sea spa Zingst is situated on the peninsula of the same name, which forms the eastern part of the peninsula Fischland-Darß-Zingst on the southern Baltic Sea coast about halfway between Rostock and Stralsund. Two high dykes on the northern and shouthern shores protect the peninsula from the waters of the Baltic Sea and the lagoon.

The municipality of Zingst was formed in 1823 when the villages of Pahlen, Hanshagen and Rothes Haus were united. Hanshagen and Pahlen were already mentioned in documents of the 13th century. Until 1874 Zingst was an island, separated from Darß by the Prerow river (Prerowstrom). When a storm tide in 1872 devastated the area, it was decided to fill up the waterway so that today Darß and Zingst form a single peninsula separating the 'Bodden', the lagoon, from the Baltic Sea. The bridge Meiningenbrücke, which connects Zingst with the mainland at Barth, was constructed in 1908–1910, final works were carried out until 1912. The bridge has a length of 470 m, the span width of the central swing bridge is 44 m. In the early 1970's, the German Democratic Republic used the eastern part of Zingst for rocket experiments. After the re-unification of Germany in 1990, the experiments were at first continued but were finally terminated in 1992.

The tradition of Zingst as a sea-side spa place began in 1881 when the "Bade-Comitee" ('bathing committee') was founded. Today, tourism is the main economic factor for Zingst.

The picture on glass no. 1975 [left] shows the harbour of Zingst, located at the Zingster Strom on the southern side of the peninsula. The history of the harbour goes back to around 1500. In the 18th and 19th century Zingst was an important seafarers' town. The harbour obtained its present appearance after extensive reconstructions and extensions in the 1990's.