Germany · Mecklenburg-Vorpommern – Königsstuhl (Series: Bundesländer II, 2nd issue)

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was re-established in 1990 in the course of German reunification. The state combines the historic regions of Mecklenburg and Vorpommern and has a long Baltic Sea coastline with islands, Bodden waters and coastal landscapes. Rügen is the largest German island by area. Tourism, maritime transport, fishing and agriculture shape the state, whose population density is low by national standards.

The chalk coast of Jasmund dates back to deposits from the Late Cretaceous. Calcareous remains of the smallest marine organisms accumulated on the seabed at that time and solidified over long periods. Later tectonic movements and glacial processes shaped the present-day landscape. Wave action, precipitation and frost continuously erode the cliffs. This repeatedly causes collapses; the visible coastline is therefore not a permanently unchanging formation.

The Königsstuhl rises around 118 metres above the Baltic Sea. It is one of the best-known viewpoints on the German Baltic coast. Since 2023, the view has been accessed via a suspended circular walkway that replaced the older viewing platform. This is intended to reduce the impact on the sensitive ground at the edge of the chalk cliff.

The forests of Jasmund contain old beech stands that have been able to develop largely in a natural state on the calcareous soils and in the varied terrain. Since 2011, some of these stands have formed part of the transnational UNESCO World Heritage Site Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of Europe (alte und ursprüngliche Buchenwälder Europas). The World Heritage Site documents the spread of the European beech across large parts of Europe since the end of the last Ice Age.

Culturally, the chalk coast is closely associated with Romantic landscape painting. Caspar David Friedrich, who was born in the Vorpommern town of Greifswald, created the painting „Kreidefelsen auf Rügen“ in 1818. However, the exact location depicted cannot be unequivocally identified with the Königsstuhl. The formation is suitable as the subject of a coin because it simultaneously represents the Baltic coast, geological development and the natural environment of the federal state.