Wenningstedt-Braderup
Encyclopedia
Wenningstedt-Braderup is a municipality on the island of Sylt
in the district of Nordfriesland
, in Schleswig-Holstein
, Germany
. It is located north of the town of Westerland and adheres to the Amt Landschaft Sylt
.
According to old lore, the chieftains of the Angles
, Hengist and Horsa, are said to have used this port for their departure to England
with their host. Today a street named Horsatal reminds of this event.
Until the early 19th century, the place had remained almost unchanged for centuries, consisting of merely eight farmsteads. The inhabitants lived on agriculture and fishing. Not a few men would also go whaling
in the Arctic Sea or sailed on Hamburg
ships to catch herring
. The settlement began to grow though with a rising tourism in the middle of the 19th century. Since 1859, Wenningstedt is a seaside resort
, since 1960 it is a recognised seaside spa. Together with Kampen
and Braderup, Wenningstedt was part of the so-called Northern Villages (Norddörfer) - an early municipal association on the island. The term was coined when List, the northernmost village on the island, was part of the Danish realm
. Thus Wenningstedt, Braderup and Kampen were the German "Northern(most) Villages". In 1914 a Protestant chapel was built at the village pond. From 1907 to 1970, Wenningstedt was located at the track of the island railway that connected Westerland to List.
During World War II
a heavy coastal artillery
battery was deployed in the dune
s northwest of Wenningstedt. There was however no combat action; the facilities were detonated in the 1950s by British Army
troops and were later completely dismantled and covered with sand by German combat engineers.
: Per bend left wavy. Dexter azure, a Viking ship emerging or with a dragon's head langued sable pheony. Sinister argent, two pales wavy azure per bend left.
side to the east.
Due to its considerably higher number of residents, Wenningstedt constitutes the municipality's centre with a communal office, spa bureau and retail sales.
Braderup does not feature an original village core but until the mid 19th century was merely a hamlet of a few scattered farmsteads. Even today there are no bigger tourist facilities or hotels.
and therefore counts among the natural sights of Sylt. The area borders directly at the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park
, where guided mudflat hikings are offered.
The Denghoog
dolmen
, which was built in the neolithicum around 3000 B.C., is located at the northern outskirts of Wenningstedt. Its name means Thing
Hill. It is made up of twelve supporting stones that carry a ceiling of stone slabs. It was dug open in 1868 and since 1928 is open to the public.
Another local attraction is the village pond of Wenningstedt. In the 1950s it was presented to the municipality by its former owner under the premise that the village keep it open to the public and preserve it as a place of recreation. The statutes rule that the adjacent buildings have to have thatched roofs in order to maintain the rural charme of the village.
Wenningstedt is located at the edge of an area of dune
s upon the Red Cliff, below the cliff there is a sandy beach all along the village, which especially in summer serves as a major touristical attraction.
Wenningstedt is moreover recognised as a spa
in Germany, yet classical spa treatments are almost extinct due to changes in German health insurance regulations. Thus today less than 2% of all tourists are traditional spa guests who have been prescribed a cure. Wenningstedt's values as a health resort is however still uncontested, the North Sea with its stimulating climate enhances one's health and trains the immune system
without any further treatment. In the course of this development, the village's spa centre, which once offered cures and applications like taking the waters, massage
s and balneotherapy
, has been closed and demolished.
Tourism in Wenningstedt does also profit from two adjacent golf course
s that were established in the 1980s.
Of old the Frisian people were pagans from a Christian point of view. With their missioning the Frisians officially became Christian but kept a lot of old traditions, e.g. the Biikebrennen
. The first church for Wenningstedt was located in the neighbouring village of Keitum. Only in 1914 the so-called Frisian Chapel was built in the immediate vicinity of an ancient pagan ritual site as in the years prior, the Wenningstedters had to take on the uncomfortable way to Keitum - only for tourists and only in summer a church service was at times held in the hall of the Friesenhof inn in Wenningstedt. The closest Roman Catholic church is St. Christopher in Westerland.
In September 2005 a foundation was established to maintain the Frisian Chapel and the pastor's post. With "Üüs Serk - Unsere Kirche" (Our church), the Norddörfer Parish wants to secure its work in the villages of Kampen, Wenningstedt and Braderup. Therefore an established €
725,000 have so far been gathered as a founding asset. On a long-term prospect € 1 million is needed. The parish hopes to intermediately gain € 50,000 per annum from interests alone to maintain its work.
introduced Buddhism
to the island in the 1920s. In 1914 he built a "Buddhist Home" in Wenningstedt, which should serve as a meeting point and temple for Buddhists on Sylt. He refrained though from constructing an already planned Buddhist monastery, which would have been the first of its kind on European soil, because he thought the island was not remote enough. In 1920 though, at the spot that he had already designated and purchased for his monastery, he erected a "Buddha monument" which gradually decayed after his death and was eventually torn down in the early 1940s. Today Buddhism is not any more influential on Sylt.
The construction boom of the 1950s and 60s brought another major change about. Simple brick houses were built, very often meant to be small guest houses, also the first true summer residences were constructed in the post-war era. In the 1980 and 90s almost all land that could be covered with buildings inside the village was used, so new constructions regularly meant demolishing old substance. Since the 1980s, almost exclusively holiday apartment houses are built, some leaning towards a retro-Frisian style - most of them being two-and-a-half storeys buildings with four to six flats. Not also the traditional family run guest houses have thus been displaced, also the housing space for long term residents of Wenningstedt is decreasing long since. Tower blocks like in Westerland have not been built, only some flat blocks were constructed along the main road in the early 1980s.
. There is hardly any branch that is not at least indirectly influenced by the tourism business. Like the immediate hotel and restaurant industry, also retailers and several service enterprises are dependent on the tourists' spending capacity.
Sylt
Sylt is an island in northern Germany, part of Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein, and well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline. It belongs to the North Frisian Islands and is the largest island in North Frisia...
in the district of Nordfriesland
Nordfriesland
Nordfriesland, English "Northern Friesland" or "North Frisia", is a district in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It includes almost all of traditional North Frisia along with adjacent areas to the east and south and is bounded by the districts of Schleswig-Flensburg and Dithmarschen, the North Sea and...
, in Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...
, 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...
. It is located north of the town of Westerland and adheres to the Amt Landschaft Sylt
Landschaft Sylt
Landschaft Sylt is an Amt in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It covers the island of Sylt , in the North Sea, approx. 65 km northwest of Husum...
.
History
A tale goes that a few hundred metres off today's shoreline there was the ancient settlement of Wendingstedt with an old Frisian port at the west coast. It is disputed though among scientists if this village ever existed or if it is merely a legend.According to old lore, the chieftains of the Angles
Angles
The Angles is a modern English term for a Germanic people who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany...
, Hengist and Horsa, are said to have used this port for their departure to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
with their host. Today a street named Horsatal reminds of this event.
Until the early 19th century, the place had remained almost unchanged for centuries, consisting of merely eight farmsteads. The inhabitants lived on agriculture and fishing. Not a few men would also go whaling
History of whaling
The history of whaling is very extensive, stretching back for millennia. This article discusses the history of whaling up to the commencement of the International Whaling Commission moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986....
in the Arctic Sea or sailed on 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...
ships to catch herring
Herring
Herring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...
. The settlement began to grow though with a rising tourism in the middle of the 19th century. Since 1859, Wenningstedt is a seaside resort
Seaside resort
A seaside resort is a resort, or resort town, located on the coast. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort.- Overview :...
, since 1960 it is a recognised seaside spa. Together with Kampen
Kampen, Germany
Kampen is a municipality on the island Sylt, in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is located north of the island's main town, Westerland, and was first recorded in 1534.-History:...
and Braderup, Wenningstedt was part of the so-called Northern Villages (Norddörfer) - an early municipal association on the island. The term was coined when List, the northernmost village on the island, was part of the Danish realm
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
. Thus Wenningstedt, Braderup and Kampen were the German "Northern(most) Villages". In 1914 a Protestant chapel was built at the village pond. From 1907 to 1970, Wenningstedt was located at the track of the island railway that connected Westerland to List.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
a heavy coastal artillery
Coastal artillery
Coastal artillery is the branch of armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications....
battery was deployed in the dune
Dune
In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by wind. Dunes occur in different forms and sizes, formed by interaction with the wind. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter "slip face" in the lee of the wind...
s northwest of Wenningstedt. There was however no combat action; the facilities were detonated in the 1950s by British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
troops and were later completely dismantled and covered with sand by German combat engineers.
Municipal council
Because of a formal error, the results of the municipal elections of May 2008 are invalid. The poll will be repeated in September 2008.Arms
BlazonBlazon
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image...
: Per bend left wavy. Dexter azure, a Viking ship emerging or with a dragon's head langued sable pheony. Sinister argent, two pales wavy azure per bend left.
Districts
Wenningstedt-Braderup consists of Wenningstedt at the west coast of Sylt and Braderup, located at the Wadden SeaWadden 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...
side to the east.
Due to its considerably higher number of residents, Wenningstedt constitutes the municipality's centre with a communal office, spa bureau and retail sales.
Braderup does not feature an original village core but until the mid 19th century was merely a hamlet of a few scattered farmsteads. Even today there are no bigger tourist facilities or hotels.
Sights
Northeast of the village there is the Braderup heath. Already in the 1920s this coarse landscape was declared a nature reserveNature reserve
A nature reserve is a protected area of importance for wildlife, flora, fauna or features of geological or other special interest, which is reserved and managed for conservation and to provide special opportunities for study or research...
and therefore counts among the natural sights of Sylt. The area borders directly at the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park
Wadden Sea National Parks
The Wadden Sea National Parks, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are located along the German coast of the North Sea. Named after the Wadden Sea, they consist of three national parks:...
, where guided mudflat hikings are offered.
The Denghoog
Denghoog
Denghoog is an ancient monument dating from 3000 BC near Wenningstedt-Braderup on the German Island of Sylt.Mr. W.G. Black speaks of it thus:—Mr...
dolmen
Dolmen
A dolmen—also known as a portal tomb, portal grave, dolmain , cromlech , anta , Hünengrab/Hünenbett , Adamra , Ispun , Hunebed , dös , goindol or quoit—is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of...
, which was built in the neolithicum around 3000 B.C., is located at the northern outskirts of Wenningstedt. Its name means Thing
Thing (assembly)
A thing was the governing assembly in Germanic and introduced into some Celtic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead...
Hill. It is made up of twelve supporting stones that carry a ceiling of stone slabs. It was dug open in 1868 and since 1928 is open to the public.
Wenningstedt is located at the edge of an area of dune
Dune
In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by wind. Dunes occur in different forms and sizes, formed by interaction with the wind. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter "slip face" in the lee of the wind...
s upon the Red Cliff, below the cliff there is a sandy beach all along the village, which especially in summer serves as a major touristical attraction.
Tourism
Wenningstedt calls itself a "families spa" and with about a million overnight stays booked, it is the fifth-largest tourist resort in Schleswig-Holstein. These bookings are distributed to 7,000 guest beds, 2,000 of which are accounted to the Wenningstedt camping site, roughly 4,000 to holiday flats and the remaining ones are shared by hotels and guest houses.Wenningstedt is moreover recognised as a spa
Spa
The term spa is associated with water treatment which is also known as balneotherapy. Spa towns or spa resorts typically offer various health treatments. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters goes back to prehistoric times. Such practices have been popular worldwide, but are...
in Germany, yet classical spa treatments are almost extinct due to changes in German health insurance regulations. Thus today less than 2% of all tourists are traditional spa guests who have been prescribed a cure. Wenningstedt's values as a health resort is however still uncontested, the North Sea with its stimulating climate enhances one's health and trains the immune system
Immune system
An immune system is a system of biological structures and processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumor cells. It detects a wide variety of agents, from viruses to parasitic worms, and needs to distinguish them from the organism's own...
without any further treatment. In the course of this development, the village's spa centre, which once offered cures and applications like taking the waters, massage
Massage
Massage is the manipulation of superficial and deeper layers of muscle and connective tissue to enhance function, aid in the healing process, and promote relaxation and well-being. The word comes from the French massage "friction of kneading", or from Arabic massa meaning "to touch, feel or handle"...
s and balneotherapy
Balneotherapy
Balneotherapy is the treatment of disease by bathing, usually practiced at spas. While it is considered distinct from hydrotherapy, there are some overlaps in practice and in underlying principles. Balneotherapy may involve hot or cold water, massage through moving water, relaxation or stimulation...
, has been closed and demolished.
Tourism in Wenningstedt does also profit from two adjacent golf course
Golf course
A golf course comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, fairway, rough and other hazards, and a green with a flagstick and cup, all designed for the game of golf. A standard round of golf consists of playing 18 holes, thus most golf courses have this number of holes...
s that were established in the 1980s.
Religion
Biikebrennen
The Biikebrennen , Biikebrånen or Pers Awten is an annual celebration held on 21 February in North Frisia, in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein and in South Jutland....
. The first church for Wenningstedt was located in the neighbouring village of Keitum. Only in 1914 the so-called Frisian Chapel was built in the immediate vicinity of an ancient pagan ritual site as in the years prior, the Wenningstedters had to take on the uncomfortable way to Keitum - only for tourists and only in summer a church service was at times held in the hall of the Friesenhof inn in Wenningstedt. The closest Roman Catholic church is St. Christopher in Westerland.
In September 2005 a foundation was established to maintain the Frisian Chapel and the pastor's post. With "Üüs Serk - Unsere Kirche" (Our church), the Norddörfer Parish wants to secure its work in the villages of Kampen, Wenningstedt and Braderup. Therefore an established €
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
725,000 have so far been gathered as a founding asset. On a long-term prospect € 1 million is needed. The parish hopes to intermediately gain € 50,000 per annum from interests alone to maintain its work.
Buddhism
The physician and author Paul DahlkePaul Dahlke
Paul Victor Ernst Dahlke was a German stage and film actor.- Career :Dahlke was born in Gross Streitz near Köslin in Farther Pomerania. He visited school in Köslin, Stargard and passed his Abitur in Dortmund in 1922...
introduced Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
to the island in the 1920s. In 1914 he built a "Buddhist Home" in Wenningstedt, which should serve as a meeting point and temple for Buddhists on Sylt. He refrained though from constructing an already planned Buddhist monastery, which would have been the first of its kind on European soil, because he thought the island was not remote enough. In 1920 though, at the spot that he had already designated and purchased for his monastery, he erected a "Buddha monument" which gradually decayed after his death and was eventually torn down in the early 1940s. Today Buddhism is not any more influential on Sylt.
Architecture and village development
Until the mid 19th century, Wenningstedt was dominated by farmsteads in the Uthland Frisian style. The village centre was constituted by the pond, Kiar. With the rise of tourism, numerous small guest houses but also villas were built for summer tourists. Until then, there was no regular road network in the village, but due to the touristical development new streets and neighbourhoods were planned on the drawing board. As the guest houses more and more avoided the old village core, the new centre gradually migrated to the west, towards the beach. The new style was now leaning towards fashionable seaside resort architecture: two-storey buildings with high rooms and white, wooden porches.The construction boom of the 1950s and 60s brought another major change about. Simple brick houses were built, very often meant to be small guest houses, also the first true summer residences were constructed in the post-war era. In the 1980 and 90s almost all land that could be covered with buildings inside the village was used, so new constructions regularly meant demolishing old substance. Since the 1980s, almost exclusively holiday apartment houses are built, some leaning towards a retro-Frisian style - most of them being two-and-a-half storeys buildings with four to six flats. Not also the traditional family run guest houses have thus been displaced, also the housing space for long term residents of Wenningstedt is decreasing long since. Tower blocks like in Westerland have not been built, only some flat blocks were constructed along the main road in the early 1980s.
New street names
In cooperation with the Amt Landschaft Sylt a revision of street names and house numbering was undertaken, which became effective on 1 January 2006. This revision had become urgent since the extensive constructions of the past 50 years had made it difficult for emergency services, postmen and also the guests to find their way around.Economy
Wenningstedt's economy, as everywhere on Sylt, is highly dependent on tourismTourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
. There is hardly any branch that is not at least indirectly influenced by the tourism business. Like the immediate hotel and restaurant industry, also retailers and several service enterprises are dependent on the tourists' spending capacity.