The
Hanseatic City of Lübeck () is the second largest
city in
Schleswig-Holstein, in
northern Germany, and one of the major
ports of
Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the
Hanseatic League ("Queen of the Hanse") and because of its
Brick Gothic architectural heritage is on
UNESCO's list of
World Heritage Sites. In 2005 it had a population of 213,983.
Situated at the
Trave River, Lübeck is the largest German port on the Baltic Sea. The old part of the town is an island enclosed by the Trave. The
Elbe-Lübeck Canal connects the Trave with the
Elbe River. Another important river near the town centre is the
Wakenitz.
Autobahn 1 connects Lübeck with
Hamburg and
Denmark (
Vogelfluglinie). The borough
Travemünde is a sea resort and ferry port at the coast of the
Baltic Sea.
History
The area around Lübeck was settled after the last Ice Age. Several
Neolithic dolmens can be found in the area.
In addition, around 700 AD
Slavic peoples started to come into the eastern parts of Holstein which had been left by many
Germanic inhabitants in the course of the
Migration Period. By the early 9th century
Charlemagne, whose
Christianisation attempts were opposed by
Saxons, moved Saxons out and brought in
Polabian Slavs, who were allied to Charlemagne, in their stead.
Liubice ("lovely") was founded on the Trave banks about four kilometres north of the present-day city centre of Lübeck. In the 10th century it became the most important settlement of the
Obotrite confederacy and a castle was built. The settlement was burned down in 1128 by pagan
Rani from
Rügen.
The modern town was founded by
Adolf II, Count of Schauenburg and Holstein, in 1143 as a German settlement on the river island
Bucu. He established a new castle which was first mentioned by
Helmold in 1147. Adolf had to cede the castle to
Henry the Lion in 1158. After Henry's fall in 1181, the town became an
Imperial city for eight years. Emperor
Barbarossa gave the city a ruling council with twenty members that survived into the 19th century. This council was dominated by merchants and caused Lübeck's politics to be dominated by trade interests for centuries to come.
The town and castle changed ownership for a period afterwards and was part of the
Duchy of Saxony until 1192, of the County of
Holstein until 1217 and part of
Denmark until the
Battle of Bornhöved in 1227.
thumb|left|upright|Lübeck's seal, 1280Around 1200 the port became the main point of departure for colonists leaving for the Baltic territories conquered by the
Livonian Order and, later,
Teutonic Order. In 1226 Emperor
Frederick II elevated the town to an
Imperial Free City, becoming the
Free City of Lübeck. In the 14th century Lübeck became the "Queen of the
Hanseatic League", being by far the largest and most powerful member of this mediaeval trade organization. In 1375, Emperor
Charles IV. named Lübeck one of the five "Glories of the Empire", a title shared with
Venice,
Rome,
Pisa and
Florence. Several conflicts about trade privileges were fought by Lübeck and the Hanseatic League against Denmark and Norway with varying outcomes. While Lübeck and the
Hanseatic League prevailed in conflicts in 1435 and 1512, Lübeck lost when it became involved in the
Count's Feud, a civil war that raged in Denmark from 1534 to 1536. Lübeck also joined the
Schmalkaldic League.
After defeat in the
Count's Feud, Lübeck's power slowly declined. Lübeck managed to remain neutral in the
Thirty Years' War, but with the devastation caused by the decades-long war and the new transatlantic orientation of European trade, the Hanseatic League and thus Lübeck lost importance. After the Hanseatic League was de facto disbanded in 1669, Lübeck remained an important trading town on the Baltic Sea.
The great composer
Dieterich Buxtehude became organist at the
Marienkirche in Lübeck in 1668 and remained at the post until at least 1703.
In the course of the war of the
Fourth Coalition against
Napoleon, troops under
Bernadotte occupied the neutral Lübeck after a battle against
Blücher on November 6, 1806. Under the
Continental System, the bank went into bankruptcy and from 1811 to 1813 Lübeck was formally annexed as part of France until the
Vienna Congress of 1815.
In 1937 the
Nazis passed the so-called
Greater Hamburg Act, where the nearby
Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg was expanded, to encompass towns that had formally belonged to the
Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein. To compensate Prussia for these losses (and partly because Hitler had a personal dislike for Lübeck), the 711-year-long independence of Lübeck came to an end and almost all its territory was incorporated into Schleswig-Holstein.
thumb|Lübeck, 15th centurythumb|Lübeck in 1641During
World War II, Lübeck was the first German city to be attacked in substantial numbers by the
Royal Air Force. The attack on
28 March 1942 created a
firestorm, that caused severe damage to the historic centre and the
Bombing of Lübeck in World War II destroyed three of the main churches and greater parts of the built-up area. A
POW camp for officers,
Oflag X-C, was located near the city from 1940 until April 1945. Lübeck was occupied without resistance by the British
Second Army on
2 May 1945.
On
3 May 1945, one of the biggest disasters in naval history happened in the
Bay of Lübeck when RAF bombers sank
three ships which, unknown to them, were packed with concentration-camp inmates. About 7,000 people were killed.
Lübeck's population grew considerably from about 150,000 in 1939 to more than 220,000 after the war, owing to an influx of refugees expelled from the
former Eastern provinces of Germany.
Lübeck remained part of Schleswig-Holstein after the war (and consequently lay within
West Germany) and was situated directly at the
inner German border during the division of Germany into two rival states in the
Cold War period. South of the city the border followed the path of the river Wakenitz that separated both countries by less than 10 m in many parts. The northernmost border crossing was in Lübeck's district of Schlutup. Lübeck's restored historic city centre became a
UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
Main sights
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thumb|Town Hall|-
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thumb|[[Lightvessel|Lightship Fehmarnbelt in front of the Concert and Congress Center]]
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thumb|Hospital of the Holy Spirit, one of the oldest social institutions of Lübeck (1260)|-
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thumb|A typical crow-stepped gabled town house
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Buildings
Much of the old town has kept a
medieval look with old buildings and narrow streets. The town once could only be entered by passing one of four
town gates, of which two remain today, the well-known
Holstentor (1478) and the
Burgtor (1444).
The old town centre is dominated by seven church steeples. The oldest ones are the
Lübecker Dom (the city's cathedral) and the
Marienkirche (Saint Mary's), both from the 13th and 14th centuries.
Other sights include:
- Church of St. Lawrence, located on the site of a cemetery of people dead during the 16th century plague.
- Church of St. Jacob (Lübecker Jakobikirche, 1334).
- the Salzspeicher, historic warehouses where salt delivered from Lüneburg awaited shipment to Baltic ports.
Like many other places in Germany, Lübeck has a long tradition with Christmas market in December, which includes the famous handicrafts market inside the Heiligen-Geist-Hospital (Hospital of the Holy Spirit), located at the north end of Königstrasse.
Museums
Lübeck has many smaller museums like the
St. Annen Museum, the
Behnhaus and the
Holstentor.
Lübeck Museum of Theatre Puppets is a privately run museum. Waterside attractions are a
lightvessel that served
Fehmarnbelt and
Lisa von Lübeck, a reconstruction of a Hanseatic 15th century
caravel.
Food and drink
Lübeck is very famous for its excellent
marzipan industry, and according to local legend, Marzipan was first made in Lübeck possibly in response to either a military siege of the city, or a famine year. The story, perhaps apocryphal, is that the town ran out of all foods except stored almonds and sugar, and used these to make loaves of marzipan "bread". Others believe that marzipan was actually invented in
Persia a few hundred years before Lübeck claims to have invented it. The best known producer is
Niederegger, which tourists often visit while in Lübeck, especially during Christmas time.
The Lübeck wine trade dates back to Hanseatic times. One Lübeck specialty is Rotspon, wine made from grapes processed and fermented in France and transported in wooden barrels to Lübeck, where it is stored, aged and bottled.
Education
Lübeck has three universities,
Lübeck University of Applied Sciences,
University of Lübeck and
Musikhochschule Lübeck. The is a central facility of the University and is founded by the .
The
International School of New Media is an affiliated institute at the University.
Notable people
Parts
The city of Lübeck is divided into 10 zones. These again are arranged into altogether 35 urban districts. The 10 zones with their official numbers, their associated urban districts and the numbers of inhabitants of the quarters:
- 01 City center (~ 12,000 Inhabitants)
- 02 St. Jürgen (~ 40,000 Inhabitants)
- * Hüxtertor / Mühlentor / Gärtnergasse, Strecknitz / Rothebek, Blankensee, Wulfsdorf, Beidendorf, Krummesse, Kronsforde, Niederbüssau, Vorrade, Schiereichenkoppel, Oberbüssau
- 03 Moisling (~ 10,000 Inhabitants)
- * Niendorf / Moorgarten, Reecke, Old-Moisling / Genin
- 04 Buntekuh (~ 10,000 Inhabitants)
- 05 St. Lorenz-South (~ 12,000 Inhabitants)
- 06 St. Lorenz-North (~ 40,000 Inhabitants)
- * Holstentor-North, Falkenfeld / Vorwerk / Teerhof, Großsteinrade / Schönböcken, Dornbreite / Krempelsdorf
- 07 St. Gertrud (~ 40,000 Inhabitants)
- * Burgtor / Stadtpark, Marli / Brandenbaum, Eichholz, Karlshof / Israelsdorf / Gothmund
- 08 Schlutup (~ 6,000 Inhabitants)
- 09 Kücknitz (~ 20,000 Inhabitants)
- * Dänischburg / Siems / Rangenberg / Wallberg, Herrenwyk, Alt-Kücknitz / Dummersdorf / Roter Hahn, Poeppendorf
- 10 Travemünde (~ 15,000 Inhabitants)
- * Ivendorf, Alt-Travemünde / Rönnau, Priwall, Teutendorf, Brodten
The industrial Lübeck-Herrenwyk area was until the beginning of 1990s the location of a big metallurgical plant. The gas produced by this plant was used for making electricity in the Lübeck-Herrenwyk power station. In 1992, the Lübeck-Herrenwyk power station was demolished after the bankruptcy and demolition of the metallurgical plant and since 1994 its site houses the
static inverter plant of the
HVDC Baltic-Cable.
Twin Towns - Sister Cities
Lübeck is
twinned with:
Lubec,
Maine, the easternmost town in the
United States, is named for Lübeck.
See also
