Hanseatic Town of Visby


World Heritage Identification Number: 731

World Heritage since: 1995

Category: Cultural Heritage

Transboundary Heritage: No

Endangered Heritage: No

Country: 🇸🇪 Sweden

Continent: Europe

UNESCO World Region: Europe and North America

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The Hanseatic Town of Visby: A Medieval Gem on the Island of Gotland

The Hanseatic Town of Visby, located on the Swedish island of Gotland, stands as a testament to the rich history and cultural exchange that characterized medieval Europe. Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995, this former Viking site offers a unique glimpse into the economic and political power that the Hanseatic League held in the Baltic region during the 12th to 14th centuries.

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UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site

A former Viking site on the island of Gotland, Visby was the main centre of the Hanseatic League in the Baltic from the 12th to the 14th century. Its 13th-century ramparts and more than 200 warehouses and wealthy merchants' dwellings from the same period make it the best-preserved fortified commercial city in northern Europe.

Encyclopedia Record: Visby

Visby is an urban area in Sweden and the seat of Gotland Municipality in Gotland County on the island of Gotland with 24,330 inhabitants as of 2017. Visby is also the episcopal see for the Diocese of Visby. The Hanseatic city of Visby is one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Scandinavia, and, since 1995, it has been on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list. Among the most notable historical remains are the 3.4 km (2.1 mi) long town wall that encircles the town center, and a number of church ruins and its small decoratitve alleyways. The decline as a Hanseatic city in the Late Middle Ages was the cause for many stone houses being preserved in their original medieval style.

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Additional Site Details

Area: Not available

UNESCO Criteria: (iv) — Outstanding example of a type of building or landscape
(v) — Outstanding example of traditional human settlement

Coordinates: 57.64167 , 18.29583

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Image of Hanseatic Town of Visby

Żeglarz, Public domain

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Nearby World Heritage Sites

Skogskyrkogården
182 km — Sweden
Agricultural Landscape of Southern Öland
183 km — Sweden
Royal Domain of Drottningholm
188 km — Sweden
Birka and Hovgården
193 km — Sweden
Naval Port of Karlskrona
232 km — Sweden

Country Information: Sweden

Flag of Sweden

Official Name: Kingdom of Sweden

Capital: Stockholm

Continent: Europe

Population (2024): 10,569,709

Population (2023): 10,536,632

Population (2022): 10,486,941

Land Area: 407,280 sq km

Currency: Swedish krona (SEK)

Country Data Sources

Last updated: January 18, 2026

Portions of the page Hanseatic Town of Visby are based on data from UNESCO — World Heritage List Dataset and on text from the Wikipedia article Visby, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes made. Additional original content by World Heritage Explorer (WHE), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. WHE is not affiliated with UNESCO or the World Heritage Committee. Legal Notice. Privacy Policy.

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