Long lost medieval church submerged 700 years ago in sunken town has been rediscovered.

Scientists have been trying to determine the location of Rungholt, a medieval town, for more than a century, after a storm surge left it submerged.

Now, a church could supply the long-awaited answers.

Sometimes referred to as Germany’s medieval equivalent of Atlantis, the structure lies just off the coast beneath the Wadden Sea.

The project was a collaboration between three German organisations – Kiel University, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, the Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology and the State Archaeology Department of Schleswig-Holstein.

So far, the structure is believed to be 40 metres by 15 metres in size.

“The find thus joins the ranks of the large churches of North Frisia,” stated Dr Bente Sven Majchczack, archaeologist in the ROOTS Cluster of Excellence at Kiel University.

Dr Ruth Blankenfeldt, the archaeologist at ZBSA, added: “The special feature of the find lies in the significance of the church as the centre of a settlement structure, which in its size must be interpreted as a parish with superordinate function.”

A monk in England described the incident in the Chronicles of Anonymous of Canterbury as something they had never experienced. According to him, on that day, around Vespers, England experienced terrible storms and whirlwinds that had never been seen or heard before, bringing down houses and other structures for the most part while leaving some in a state of ruin after having their roofs torn off by the force of the winds.

Rungholt’s precise location and very existence have long been disputed. However, the multidisciplinary team of academics claims to have discovered proof of a church that might have stood in the middle of the medieval hamlet. Yes, the new study proved that the local legend about the sunken city was true, IFL Science reported.

The research team includes specialists from German institutions Kiel University, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, the Center for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology, and the State Archaeology Department of Schleswig-Holstein.

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