Editing Visby (section)

== Geography ==
[[File:Övre Finngränd 7 Sta Maria 29 Visby Gotland.jpg|thumb|General view towards the cathedral from Övre Finngränd on Klinten]]
Visby is the name of the locality, or town, as well as the name of the larger area surrounding it, Visby [[socken]]. In 1936, the socken was incorporated within the newly formed Visby stad (Visby city), the only locality with historical [[Stad (Sweden)|city status]] on Gotland. Visby socken comprises the same area as the [[Registration districts in Sweden|administrative]] Visby District, established on 1{{nbsp}}January 2016.<ref>{{cite web|title=Förordning om district|trans-title=Regulation of districts|url=http://rkrattsdb.gov.se/SFSdoc/15/150493.PDF |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151231103401/http://rkrattsdb.gov.se/SFSdoc/15/150493.PDF |archive-date=2015-12-31 |url-status=live|date=17 June 2015|publisher=[[Ministry of Finance (Sweden)|Ministry of Finance]]|access-date=24 May 2016}}</ref><ref>The exact extent of the old socken, now district, can be obtained by clicking on ''Kartinställningar'' and check the ''Socken'' box in the menu of [http://www.fmis.raa.se/cocoon/fornsok/search.html?parish=976&tab=2&page=1 this map] from the [[Swedish National Heritage Board]] database.</ref> {{As of|2019}}, [[Visby Cathedral]], [[List of churches on Gotland#V-Ö|Visborg Church]] and [[List of churches on Gotland#S-T|Terra Nova Church]] in Visby belong to Visby Cathedral [[Parishes of the Church of Sweden|parish]] (''Visby Domkyrkoförsamling'').<ref>{{cite web |title=Församlingar på Gotland |url=https://www.svenskakyrkan.se/visbystift/f |website=www.svenskakyrkan.se |publisher=[[Church of Sweden]] |access-date=13 January 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Visby stifts indelning 2018 |url=https://www.svenskakyrkan.se/default.aspx?id=1714164 |website=www.svenskakyrkan.se |publisher=[[Church of Sweden]] |access-date=13 January 2019}}</ref> Visby is also the only municipality seat of Sweden that is accessible from the mainland only by boat and air traffic.

Visby is situated on the central west coast of Gotland, on the rather steep slopes of [[limestone]] cliffs surrounding the first natural harbor. The town has evolved around the [[Middle Ages|medieval]] harbor that now constitutes the [[Almedalen]] park. Long streets run parallel with the old shoreline with shorter alleys at a straight angle from these, lead from the harbor and up the slope up to the eastern higher part of town known as ''Klinten''.<ref name=ne>{{cite web|title=Visby|url=http://www.ne.se/uppslagsverk/encyklopedi/lång/visby|website=www.ne.se|publisher=[[Nationalencyklopedin]]|access-date=24 June 2016}}</ref>

The old, original part of Visby is more or less enclosed by the city wall to the north, east and south, with the old harbor and the Baltic Sea in the west. The more modern parts of the town expand mostly east and inland from the wall. Along the shore south of the wall is the modern harbor with its ferry terminals and further south is a green recreational area called Södra Hällarna. Just inside the north part of the wall as well as along the north coast outside the wall, are several beaches: Kallbadhuset, Norderstrand, Snäckgärdsbaden (or simply Snäck) and [[Gustavsvik, Gotland|Gustavsvik]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Välkomna till Visby!|trans-title=Welcome to Visby!|url=http://www.gotland.net/se-och-gora/arkiv/valkomna-till-visby|website=www.gotland.net|publisher=Gotlands Media AB|date=23 April 2014|access-date=24 June 2016}}</ref>

Visby and [[Tallinn]] are the only two North-European towns in which the city's medieval [[grid plan]] has been fully preserved into present day.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}}

One of the [[asteroid]]s in the [[asteroid belt]], [[6102 Visby]], is [[List of Gotland related asteroids|named]] after this place.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=6102|title=6102 Visby (1993 FQ25)|access-date=24 June 2016|publisher=[[NASA]]}}</ref>