Historic Cities · Germany
Lübeck through the ages
Lübeck, officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck, is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and the second-largest city in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, after its capital, Kiel. It is the 36th-largest city in Germany.
Lübeck in 1500
Queen of the Hanse
Lübeck in 1500 stands at the height of its Hanseatic power: a dense island city of brick churches, merchant houses, quays stacked with salted cargo and sea-going cogs. The walk follows the Trave’s approach, passes through the Holstentor into the market and guild streets, then moves along the salt storehouses and harbor quays before rising to the ramparts for a final view of the seven towers.
The old town is a compact island of red and black bricks, steep gables and narrow alleys, ringed by mills, moats and the Trave’s quays. Sturdy merchant gables and storerooms crowd the waterline beside timbered jetties; the Town Hall shows black-glazed brick screens while Marienkirche’s twin towers and vast brick vault dominate the skyline. Market stalls, laden carts and rope-worsted sails animate the waterfront on a cool, breezy Baltic morning.
The walk — 22 streets, squares and views
Trave Estuary Approach → Holstentor Gate → Holstenstraße → Koberg Square → Lübeck Cathedral → Breite Straße → St. Mary’s (Marienkirche) → Rathausmarkt → Lübeck Town Hall → Krämerstraße → …
Step inside — 14 interiors
Holstentor Gate Chamber · Cathedral Choir · Soaring Nave of St. Mary’s · Astronomical Clock Chamber · Town Hall Audience Room · Butcher's Hall · Merchant's Long Diele · Servants' Cellar · Sailmakers' Loft · Salt Storehouse Hall · Port Customs Hall · Cog Cargo Hold · Ward of Tiny Cabins · Bell Chamber of St. Petri
Planned from the Wikipedia record: Lübeck.
Lübeck in 1900
Buddenbrooks Lübeck
This is Lübeck in the long, dignified afterglow of its Hanseatic past, a compact island of brick churches, gabled merchant houses and quiet canals. The walk follows steamers and quays into the old town, past patrician doorways on Mengstraße, marzipan shops and the Holstentor settling into its marsh, ending on the tree-lined wall promenades that frame the island.
Lübeck in 1900 is a city of red-brown brick: soaring Gothic church towers and copper spires puncture a dense carpet of steep red roofs; stepped gables and tall warehouses line the Trave. Streets are narrow and paved, gas lamps glow on wet brick in the evening, and the harbour shows steamers instead of medieval cogs. Scale is human and maritime — quays, bridges and merchant façades dominate the eye, gulls wheel over the river.
The walk — 21 streets, squares and views
Bay of Lübeck (Trave Mouth) → An der Untertrave → Salzspeicher Quay → Holstentor → Holstenstraße → Mengstraße → Königstraße → Hüxstraße → Breite Straße → Rathausmarkt → …
Step inside — 12 interiors
Steamship Agent's Office · Salt Warehouse Storage Hall · Holstentor Gatehouse Vault · Hospital Refectory Hall · Ratskammer Council Chamber · Ratskeller Vaulted Tavern · Organ Loft and Choir Practice · Cathedral Nave and Choir · Seamen's Guild Banquet Hall · St. Anne's Altar Hall · Panelled Family Dining Room · Marzipan Confectioner's Shop
Planned from the Wikipedia record: Lübeck.
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