a fortified town of the Prussian dominions, capital of the province of Pomerania, on the left bank of the Oder, which is here crossed by two bridges, leading to the suburb of Lastadie on the other side, 78 miles N.E. of Berlin. Immediately below the town the Oder expands into the wide lake of Stettin, through which it falls into the Baltic. The fortifications of the town are strong, and include part of the suburbs across the river. They are entered by five principal and several smaller gates; two of the former, the King's Gate and the Berlin Gate, are richly adorned with emblems of figures, and are among the finest structures of the kind in Germany. The town is old, and in general well built, containing several large and handsome squares. The public buildings, however, are not very conspicuous or remarkable. Among these, the most important is the ancient castle, which was the residence of the Dukes of Pomerania from 1575 till the line became extinct in 1637. In the chapel of the castle is the ducal vault. The castle contains a collection of northern antiquities, now in course of formation, and has a lofty tower which commands a fine prospect over the town and neighbourhood. In one of the public squares of Stettin stands a fine marble statue of Frederick the Great, and another of Frederick William III. of the same material. The town-hall, exchange, and theatre are among the chief edifices of the town. Its churches are not very noteworthy, if we except the massive and venerable St James', which occupies a conspicuous position on a hill near the centre of the town. The oldest part of this building goes back as far as the 13th century. The other Protestant churches are four in number, and there is one belonging to the Roman Catholics. Stettin is the see of a bishop, and has a court of law and public offices. There is a gymnasium, with a library, museum, and observatory attached to it, several other schools of various kinds, a workhouse, hospitals, and other benevolent institutions. The manufactures of the town are very extensive, including linen, woollen, and cotton cloth, canvas, leather, hosiery, hats, soap, tobacco, beer, and sugar. Ships and boats are also built here, and ship's anchors are forged for all the vessels of the Prussian states. The trade of Stettin is great and rapidly increasing. It is not only one of the chief ports of Prussia, but at the same time the most important commercial town on the shores of the Baltic. The following table exhibits the quantities and values of the principal articles exported and imported at Stettin in the year 1854:

| Articles | Imports Quantity | Imports Value | Exports Quantity | Exports Value | |-------------------|------------------|---------------|------------------|---------------| | Boose | | | | | | Coffee | | | | | | Grain, of diff. kinds (bushels) | 503,590 | 104,074 | 1,854,340 | 554,201 | | Horses, of all kinds (barrels) | 149,740 | 188,999 | | | | Iron of all kinds, (cwt.) | 451,896 | 184,051 | 797 | 703 | | Oil of different kinds and oil-cakes (cwt.) | 232,258 | 689,480 | 45,629 | 28,171 | | Rice | | | | | | Wine | | | | | | Wood | | | | |

And the total value of the exports and imports for each year from 1850 to 1854 was as follows:

| Year | Imports Value | Exports Value | |------|--------------|--------------| | 1850 | | | | 1851 | | | | 1852 | | | | 1853 | | | | 1854 | | |

The total number of vessels, exclusive of those in the coasting trade, that entered at the port in 1852 was 720, tonnage, 150,404; and of those that cleared in the same year the number was 723, and the tonnage 160,148. Stettin is a place of great antiquity. It owes its origin to a Wendish castle, and as early as 830 there was a considerable village on the spot. In those early ages a temple of the Wendish idol Trigloff, which stood here, was several times destroyed and rebuilt again while Christianity and Paganism by turns got the upper hand in their struggle for the country, and when Christianity was finally introduced, about the beginning of the 13th century, immense treasures of gold, silver, and precious stones were found stored up in it. The town shared in the vicissitudes of this part of Pomerania, which are narrated in the article POMERANIA, belonging at one time to Denmark, at another to Sweden, and finally to Prussia. Two Russian empresses, Catherine the Great, and Maria Feodorowna, wife of Paul the successor of Catherine, were born here. Pop. (1858) 53,103.