- Cape Arkona
Cape Arkona ( _de. Kap Arkona) is a cape on the island of
Rügen inMecklenburg-Vorpommern ,Germany . Cape Arkona is the tip of theWittow peninsula, just a few kilometres north of theJasmund National Park .The temple fortress of Arkona, today called "Jaromarsburg", was the religious centre of the Slavic Rani in the
Early Middle Ages . The temple was dedicated to the deitySvantevit , who was depicted with four heads. The temple housed an important horse oracle in Slavic times, where the behaviour of a white stallion could decide peace or war (horse oracles have a long history in this region, being already attested in the writings of Tacitus).Today, only about a quarter of the old fortress is left, as the
chalk -promontory it was built on is slowly eroded by the Baltic. Rescueexcavation s are in progress.In 1168 Arkona was destroyed by Danish invaders (see
Absalon ). This event preceded the forcedChristianization of the region's inhabitants.There are two old
lighthouse s at the cape, one constructed in 1827, the other one in 1902. The former is one of the oldest still existing lighthouses of theBaltic Sea . It was constructed by the famous architectKarl Friedrich Schinkel .In 1927, the cape's name was given to a German liner, the SS "Cap Arcona".
Prior to the
German reunification , Arkona was often considered the most northern point in theGerman Democratic Republic . However, the site Gellort is located about one kilometre northwest.
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