Greetsiel
Encyclopedia
Greetsiel is a small port on the bight of Leybucht
Leybucht
The Leybucht is the second largest bay in East Frisia in northwest Germany after the Dollart. The Jade Bight is larger than both, but belongs historically to Oldenburg.- Location :...

 in western East Frisia
East Frisia
East Frisia or Eastern Friesland is a coastal region in the northwest of the German federal state of Lower Saxony....

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 that was first documented in letters from the year 1388. Since 1972, Greetsiel has been part of the municipality of Krummhörn
Krummhörn
Krummhörn is a municipality in the district of Aurich, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the Ems estuary, approximately 15 km southwest of Norden, and 10 km northwest of Emden....

, which has its administrative seat in Pewsum
Pewsum
Pewsum is a village in the municipality of Krummhörn in western East Frisia. Pewsum is both the administrative seat as well as the trade and craft centre for the municipality. The number of inhabitants is 3,352 and the village lies at a height of .- History :Pewsum was first mentioned in 945 as...

. The nearest railway station is at Emden
Emden
Emden is a city and seaport in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia; in 2006, the city had a total population of 51,692.-History:...

, about 15–20 km (9.3–12.4 mi) away, and the two towns are linked by a bus service.

Although originally just a small but picturesque fishing village, Greetsiel has become a major tourist attraction. In December 2006, it had 1,534 inhabitants, but the number of people living in the village significantly increases during the summer months and over the Christmas holidays.

Geography

Greetsiel is situated on the Leybucht, a small bay on the East Frisian coast. Over time, large parts of the bay were reclaimed behind dykes
Levee
A levee, levée, dike , embankment, floodbank or stopbank is an elongated naturally occurring ridge or artificially constructed fill or wall, which regulates water levels...

, so that Greetsiel is the only port in the bay today.

In the 1990s, the Leybuchthörn was completed. This structure extends as a spit out into the Wadden Sea
Wadden Sea
The Wadden Sea is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern continental Europe and the range of Frisian Islands, forming a shallow body of water with tidal flats and wetlands. It is rich in biological diversity...

. Within the Leybuchthörn is a reservoir and the approach channel from the North Sea into Greetsiel Harbour (Greetsieler Hafen). Between the port and the open sea is a lock. Since the completion of the structure, Greetsiel Harbour has been accessible from the sea, irrespective of the tide
Tide
Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the moon and the sun and the rotation of the Earth....

.

The distance to the nearest towns of Emden
Emden
Emden is a city and seaport in the northwest of Germany, on the river Ems. It is the main city of the region of East Frisia; in 2006, the city had a total population of 51,692.-History:...

 and Norden
Norden, Lower Saxony
Norden is a town in the district of Aurich, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the North Sea shore, in East Frisia.-External links:* *...

 is 15–20 km (9.3–12.4 mi) to the north and south respectively.

History

Greetsiel is first mentioned in the records in letters dating to the year 1388 (Ocko I tom Brok
Ocko I tom Brok
Ocko I tom Brok followed his father Keno I tom Brok as chieftain of the Brokmerland and the Auricherland in East Frisia, a former territory on Germany's North Sea coast....

). At that time, Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

's ship
Ship
Since the end of the age of sail a ship has been any large buoyant marine vessel. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on size and cargo or passenger capacity. Ships are used on lakes, seas, and rivers for a variety of activities, such as the transport of people or goods, fishing,...

s lay at anchor
Anchor
An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, that is used to connect a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the vessel from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ancora, which itself comes from the Greek ἄγκυρα .Anchors can either be temporary or permanent...

 in the port of Greetsiel and had to pay tariff
Tariff
A tariff may be either tax on imports or exports , or a list or schedule of prices for such things as rail service, bus routes, and electrical usage ....

s.

The place was founded by the Domain of Appingen
Appingen Abbey
Appingen Abbey is a former Carmelite monastery in the parish of Greetsiel, which is dedicated to Saint Mary. It was named after the village of the same name.- History :...

 under the chiefs of Cirksena
Cirksena
The Cirksena are noble East Frisian family descended from a line of East Frisian chieftains from Greetsiel.- The Cirksena in East Frisia :In 1439 in the wake of clashes between different lines of chieftains, the town of Emden was first placed by Hamburg under direct rule and then, in 1453, finally...

. While Appingen increasingly lost its importance, Greetsiel became the seat of the chief. In 1462 Count Edzard the Great
Edzard I, Count of East Frisia
Edzard I, also Edzard the Great, was count of East Frisia from 1491 till his death in 1528.Edzard succeeded his brother Enno in 1492. He fought with George, Duke of Saxony over Friesland and Groningen...

 was born at the Cirksenaburg; under his rule East Frisia extended from the River Weser as far as Groningen
Groningen (province)
Groningen [] is the northeasternmost province of the Netherlands. In the east it borders the German state of Niedersachsen , in the south Drenthe, in the west Friesland and in the north the Wadden Sea...

. In 1547 Ubbo Emmius
Ubbo Emmius
Ubbo Emmius was a German historian and geographer.-Early life:Ubbo Emmius was born on 5 December 1557 in Greetsiel, East Frisia, Germany. From the ages of 9 to 18 Emmius studied in a Latin school, before having to leave on the death of his father, a Lutheran preacher...

 was born here. On old Dutch maps the town is marked as Grietjezijl.

In creating the municipality of Krummhörn in 1972, a debate erupted over whether the administrative headquarters should be Pewsum
Pewsum
Pewsum is a village in the municipality of Krummhörn in western East Frisia. Pewsum is both the administrative seat as well as the trade and craft centre for the municipality. The number of inhabitants is 3,352 and the village lies at a height of .- History :Pewsum was first mentioned in 945 as...

 or Greetsiel. Because Greetsiel was a more isolated location, Pewsum was preferred.

Buildings

Of all the East Frisian Siel villages (a Siel is a sluice in a dyke), Greetsiel has the best preserved old fishermen's cottages. In its picturesque fishing harbour there are still 28 shrimp cutters (Krabbenkutter). Other notable buildings are:
  • Greetsiel Church, an evangelical,reformed church. The rectangular, brick
    Brick
    A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...

    , aisleless church
    Aisleless church
    An Aisleless church is a single-nave church building that consists of a single hall-like room. While similar to the hall church, the aisleless church lacks aisles or passageways either side of the nave separated from the nave by colonnades or arcades, a row of pillars or columns...

     (Saalkirche) was built between 1380 and 1410 as the private church of the chief, Haro Edzardsna, in two stages. In 1401, long before its final completion, it was to be consecrated to Saint Mary. The building is crowned by a small flèche
    Flèche
    A flèche is used in French architecture to refer to a spire and in English to refer to a lead-covered timber spire, or spirelet. These are placed on the ridges of church or cathedral roofs and are usually relatively small...

     (Dachreiter) decorated with a clock. This is adorned by a 1730 weather vane
    Weather vane
    A weather vane is an instrument for showing the direction of the wind. They are typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building....

     in the shape of a ship. The actual clock tower stands off to one side. The simple interior, which at one time had a flat ceiling, has been covered by a slightly vaulted wooden ceiling since 1852. The organ
    Pipe organ
    The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...

     was completely renovated in 1963, but its case is from 1738; the pulpit, however, had already been made in 1669.

  • Steinhaus, the former seat of the Cirksena family. The brick building at the end of the high street (Hohe Straße) was built about 1600 on the foundations of a previous building erected around 1390. In the interior the original hall has been restored in the course of renovation work.

  • Houses. Among the most famous photographic motifs in Greetsiel is the row of houses on Sielstraße flanking the harbour. The houses at No. 11 and No. 15, with their bell-shaped gables based on Dutch designs, are particularly striking. While the former is dated 1741, No. 15 was built in 1792. The Poppingas Old Bakery (Poppingas Alte Bäckerei), No. 21, from the 19th century is also found on Sielstraße and is used now as a museum, cafe and gallery; its interior has been preserved unchanged. Near the church is the so-called High House (Hohes Haus) at 1, Hohe Straße, a two-storey, sideways-on, brick building, which once served as the seat of the treasurer or Rentmeister. According to the anchor plate
    Anchor plate
    An anchor plate or wall washer is a large plate or washer connected to a tie rod or bolt. Anchor plates are used on exterior walls of masonry buildings, for structural reinforcement. Being visible, many anchor plates are made in a style that is decorative.One popular style is the star anchor—an...

     on the gable it dates to "1696", but is thought to have already been in decline by the middle of the 16th century. Today the building, whose street façade is covered with an ashlar facing, houses a hotel. The Amtmannshaus on Neuer Deich is probably from the same period, but was extensively renovated during the 19th century. In the latest renovation the exterior appearance of the house and its associated Gulf barn was changed significantly by the addition of modern dormer
    Dormer
    A dormer is a structural element of a building that protrudes from the plane of a sloping roof surface. Dormers are used, either in original construction or as later additions, to create usable space in the roof of a building by adding headroom and usually also by enabling addition of windows.Often...

    s. In Mühlenstraße is Haus von Halem, built in 1794 and one of the most important residential examples of neoclassical architecture
    Neoclassical architecture
    Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...

     in East Frisia. The two-storey brick building with a hipped roof
    Hipped roof
    Hipped roof can refer to:*A hip roof, a type of roof where all sides are sloped*A tented roof, a conical style of roof seen in Russian architecture...

     is divided by a huge pilasters. The portal has a richly carved fanlight
    Fanlight
    A fanlight is a window, semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open fan, It is placed over another window or a doorway. and is sometimes hinged to a transom. The bars in the fixed glazed window spread out in the manner a sunburst...

    s in the late rococo
    Rococo
    Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...

     style.

Windmills

53.4975863°N 7.100105°W

The twin windmills of Greetsiel-West date from 1856 (green) and Greetsiel-Ost from 1706 (red, renovated in 1921 with parts of Aurich
Aurich
Aurich is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Aurich.-History:The history of Aurich dates back to the 13th century, when the settlement of Aurechove was mentioned in a Frisian document called the Brokmerbrief in 1276. In 1517, Count Edzard from the house of...

's Wallmühle mill of 1750). They are tower mills .

Other places of interest

Other places of interest include the scoop wheel
Scoop wheel
right|thumb|Rim driven Scoop wheel of the [[Stretham Old Engine]], CambridgeshireA scoop wheel may be a pump or an excavator.-Scoop wheel pump:...

, the old Siel (1798), the new Siel (1887) and the Pilsum Lighthouse
Pilsum Lighthouse
The Pilsum Lighthouse was built in 1891 in order to provide a beacon for the Emshörn channel on Germany's North Sea coast. It is located on a dyke near the village of Pilsum in the municipality of Krummhörn. It has guided ships through the narrow channel since 1915. In the First World War its...

. Greetsiel also hosts the largest ship in a bottle
Ship in a Bottle
Ship in a Bottle may refer to:* Ship in a bottle, a type of impossible bottle containing a model ship* "Ship in a Bottle" , a sixth-season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation...

 museum in Germany and Europe, with about 800 examples. Of all the places in the municipality of Krummhörn, Greetsiel has the highest influx of tourists.

Regular events

An annual painting and art exhibition, known as Greetsiel Week (Greetsieler Woche), is of national prominence. It has been running for more than 30 years and exhibits a range of works including: art, ceramics, goldsmiths' products and sculptures. Every two years, the Imke Folkerts Prize for Fine Arts in East Frisia, worth 5,000 euros, is awarded at the event. Qualifying entries include works in the fields of art, graphics, photography and sculpture. There are also regular exhibitions in Greetsiel's twin windmills. Every year in mid-summer is the boat parade
Shrimp Boat
Shrimp Boat was an American rock band formed in Chicago in 1987. After the band dissolved in 1993, Sam Prekop and Eric Claridge formed The Sea and Cake. Ian Schneller and Tom Jasek went on to form Falstaff...

 in which the majority of Greetsiel's cutters take part. The crews take guests on a roughly four-hour boat trip. The port also hosts a supporting programme of events with music and shrimp-shelling competitions.

Transport

Greetsiel is linked by state roads to Norden and Emden and from there the A 31
Bundesautobahn 31
is a German Autobahn that connects the coast of the North Sea near Emden to the Ruhr area. It is also known as Emsland-Autobahn or East Frisian Skewer....

.

At one time the Emden-Pewsum-Greetsiel light railway
Emden-Pewsum-Greetsiel Light Railway
The Emden-Pewsum-Greetsiel light railway was originally a private railway operated by the district of Emden in East Frisia in North Germany. In 1932 the district was absorbed into the district of Norden....

 linked Pewsum and Greetsiel with Emden. The operation of the metre gauge
Metre gauge
Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland...

 railway began in 1899 between Emden and Pewsum and, in 1906, the line was extended to Greetsiel. Kleinbahnstraße in Greetsiel recalls that period, along which there are still several railway buildings that are now used for other purposes. The narrow-gauge railway was closed in 1963; since when passenger services have been taken over by bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...

es. Today, Greetsiel is connected by bus with the former county town of Norden
Norden, Lower Saxony
Norden is a town in the district of Aurich, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the North Sea shore, in East Frisia.-External links:* *...

 as well as Emden.

Greetsiel can also be reached by smaller boats from the direction of Emden. The Alte Greetsieler Sieltief and the Neue Greetsieler Sieltief connect the port with the East Frisian inland waterways network.

Sons of the village

Ubbo Emmius, born 5 December 1547, was a theologian, historian, pedagogue and first master of the University of Groningen
University of Groningen
The University of Groningen , located in the city of Groningen, was founded in 1614. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands as well as one of its largest. Since its inception more than 100,000 students have graduated...

 (Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

).

External links

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