Researchers have discovered the church of the legendary sunken city of Rungholt in the North Sea.
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Archaeologists managed to find the remains of several dwellings and the Rungholt church on the North Sea coast – the foundation of the building measuring 40 by 15 m has been preserved. Researchers suggest that the church was its center during the existence of the city, and Rungholt itself was probably of great commercial importance in the Middle Ages.
According to experts, parts of the discovered city buildings have been seriously damaged over the past 600 years – some houses were almost completely destroyed by wind and waves.
Rungholt was located west of the modern German city of Kiel. Historians believe that on January 16, 1362, during a severe storm, powerful waves hit Rungholt. A dam broke in the city – then, along with Rungholt, another 14 settlements disappeared, thousands of people died. Before the flood, the city could be called a medieval metropolis: there are up to 500 houses in which about three thousand people lived.
The inhabitants of Rungholt lived mainly by trading in salt and amber. They maintained links with other places, as far as Spain, where the Moors then ruled. Rungholt was a colorful and flourishing harbor settlement. Fishermen, farmers, merchants, blacksmiths and even clergy lived there, because there was a church there,” historian Tanya German explains to Bild.
She emphasizes that the records of the Danish king Valdemar II recorded that the inhabitants of Rungholt were among the largest taxpayers in the region – together they gave about 20% of all the silver that the king collected from his subjects.
Source: Racurs
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