Before the merchants came, this rocky promontory on Gotland's west coast served a different purpose. The Gutasaga, a 14th-century chronicle, refers to the place simply as "Wi," meaning holy site or place of worship. Pagan rituals gave way to commerce sometime around 900 AD, when Visby emerged as a trading center. The natural harbor that had drawn worshippers now drew ships laden with furs, amber, and iron. By the 12th century, German merchants had arrived, drawn by the island's strategic position in the Baltic. The Hanseatic League transformed Visby into one of its most important nodes, and between 1300 and 1350, the city reached its zenith. The Laws of Wisbuy, a code of maritime law written here, influenced shipping regulations across the Baltic and beyond for centuries.

The golden age ended with a single brutal day in 1361. King Valdemar IV of Denmark landed on Gotland with his army, and 1,800 islanders fell in battle before the city walls. The Danish king then performed an act of calculated humiliation: he tore down a section of the wall, set up three enormous beer barrels, and demanded they be filled with silver and gold. The city fathers stripped their churches bare to meet the demand. Valdemar added "King of Gotland" to his titles and sailed away, leaving a city that would never fully recover. Pirates raided in 1391, 1394, and 1398. Teutonic Knights invaded in 1398. A plague reduced the population further. By the time Sweden reclaimed Gotland in 1645, Visby had become a backwater, its grand merchants' houses standing empty, their medieval architecture untouched because no one could afford to change it.

Visby earned two nicknames: the City of Roses and the City of Ruins. Both prove accurate. Wild roses cascade over the limestone walls, thriving in the mild maritime climate that makes Visby one of Sweden's sunniest towns. The ruins are the shells of medieval churches, left to crumble after the Reformation. St. Nicholas, St. Drotten, and others stand roofless against the sky, their Gothic arches framing clouds instead of ceilings. Only the cathedral survived intact, rededicated to Saint Mary and still holding services today. Walking the cobblestoned streets, past houses with stepped gables and carved portals, you understand why Hayao Miyazaki used Visby as the primary visual inspiration for the town in his animated film "Kiki's Delivery Service." The narrow alleys, the sea glimpsed between buildings, the sense of a place where time moves differently all found their way into that beloved film.

Modern Visby pulses with life during the summer months. Each July, the Almedalen park hosts Almedalen Week, when Swedish politicians gather for a week of speeches and debates that has become a fixture of the national political calendar. In August, Medieval Week transforms the city into a living museum. Regular tourists find themselves outnumbered by people in period costumes, as jesters perform in squares where merchants once haggled and jousting tournaments play out before crowds seated on the same slopes where Gotlanders once watched their last defenders fall. The University Campus Gotland brings students year-round, and ferries from the mainland arrive multiple times daily. An asteroid in the asteroid belt bears the name 6102 Visby, a celestial tribute to a place that has outlasted empires and continues to draw visitors to walk its ancient stones.