Visby is one of the most remarkable towns in [wiki=c8f4261f9f46e6465709e17ebea7a92b]Sweden[/wiki] and [wiki=1f51c2ead9d80bbd679be908c055f371]Scandinavia[/wiki], and it is situated on the west coast of [wiki=82d83754b9757f91ae7c1731953280c8]Gotland[/wiki] Island. The population is about 23,000. It is known for the medieval city ringwall, the Cathedral (Sankta Maria Kyrka), and many medieval church ruins. A former Viking site on the island of Gotland, Visby was the main centre of the Hanseatic League (German trading federation) in the Baltic from the 12th to the 14th century. Its 13th-century ringwall and more than 200 warehouses and wealthy merchants' dwellings from the same period make it the best-preserved fortified commercial medieval city in northern Europe. In 1995, the city was declared a [wiki=255f23d5f5774408a90d290f4d8f6aac]UNESCO World Heritage[/wiki]http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/731 site.