Visby City Wall is a medieval defensive wall surrounding the Swedish town of Visby on the island of Gotland. As the strongest, most extensive, and best preserved medieval city wall in Scandinavia, the wall forms an important and integral part of Visby World Heritage Site.

Built in two stages during the 13th and 14th century, approximately 3.44 km (2.14 mi) of its original 3.6 km (2.2 mi) still stands. Of the 29 large and 22 smaller towers, 27 large and 9 small remain. A number of houses that predate the wall were incorporated within it during one of the two phases of construction. During the 18th century, fortifications were added to the wall in several places and some of the towers rebuilt to accommodate cannons.

Construction

The wall was built during two periods, the 13th and the 14th century. It is made from locally quarried limestone, rubble limestone filling, fat lime mortar and clay mortar. The first wall was lower than at present and constructed as two thin walls of solid limestone with rubble used to fill the gap between them. When the height of the wall was increased during the second building phase, solid limestone stabilized with lime mortar was added on top of the first wall. Due to this, most of the weight of the wall is carried by the two thinner outer stone layers of the first wall. The joints of lime mortar in these layers were reinforced with stronger cement during 20th century restorations.

Originally, the wall had 29 large regular towers and 22 small towers riding on top of the wall, 27 of the large and 9 of the small towers remain. It was approximately 3.6 km (2.2 mi), of which 3.44 km (2.14 mi) is still standing.

The wall encloses the old town of Visby which is built on a steep slope facing the Baltic Sea. The west part of the wall nearest the sea, is built on land approximately 2 metres (6.6 ft) above sea level. To the north and south the wall climbs the slope known as the Klinten, towards the east where the highest elevation reaches about 40 metres (130 ft).