The City wall of Visby is an old and dusty medieval defensive wall

Defensive wall

A defensive wall is a fortification used to protect a city or settlement from potential aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements...

 surrounding the old Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 town Visby

Visby

-See also:* Battle of Visby* Gotland University College* List of governors of Gotland County-External links:* - Visby*...

, on the island of Gotland

Gotland

Gotland is a county, province, municipality and diocese of Sweden; it is Sweden's largest island and the largest island in the Baltic Sea. At 3,140 square kilometers in area, the region makes up less than one percent of Sweden's total land area...

.

History

The ringwall ("ringmur" in Swedish

Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...

) was likely begun in the 13th century. Around 1280 it was rebuilt to reach its current height, along with the addition of its characteristic towers (although some towers were not constructed until the 15th century) It is part of the World Heritage 731 in Visby. The war in 1288 between the citizens of Visby and the Danish army gave the citizens of Visby a reason to continue the work with the wall. All together the city wall became 3.4 km, and it was finished in the beginning of the 14th century. At the time, the wall contained 29 towers, 27 of which are remaining today.

Battle of Visby

During the 1361 Battle of Visby

Battle of Visby

The Battle of Visby was fought in 1361 near the town of Visby on the island of Gotland, between the forces of the Danish king and the Gutnish country yeomen. The Danish force was victorious.-Background:...

, the main battle was fought within 300 meters of the North Gate of Visby (shown on the right). The peasant forces were ultimately unsuccessful, however, resulting in the citizens of Visby surrendering to the Danish forces.