Arnis - Schifferkirche

Arnis, the smallest town in Germany both by population (300) and by area (0.45 km²) was founded in 1667 by shipping families from nearby Kappeln who wanted to avoid serfdom.

In 1666 Detlef von Rumohr tried to press the families of Kappeln into serfdom. The families asked Duke Christian Albrecht for help. Christian Albrecht responded positively and offered the island of Arnis as the place for a new settlement. To support this project he even granted privileges to the families of Kappeln.

Detlef von Rumohr put pressure on the emigrants. In the end only 30 houses were built in Arnis and the new settlement faced a crisis during the Scanian War. Christian Albrecht's son, Frederick IV., offered a 10 years tax exemption for new settlers and Arnis began to grow and became in the late 18th and during the 19th century a prosperous skippers place with up to 1000 inhabitants and almost 90 sailing ships.

The "Schifferkirche" ("Skipper's Church") from 1673 is the oldest building in Arnis. Shipping was a dangerous trade without the technology that is available today. When the skippers had survived dangerous times at sea, some donated a votive ship.