Lübeck - Queen of the Hanse

Lübeck has a beautiful old town. It preserved its basic street layout from the Middle Ages and the whole old town, which is located on an island in the Trave River, was added to the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list. Despite some war damage, large sections of the town have been preserved, and the narrow alleys remind of centuries past.

Lübeck is a typical North German town, with effortless neatness and a general cleanliness; lines are mostly straight and storefront advertisements restrained. It maintains an air of self-confidence and wealth—old gold, rather than nouveaux riches—even though it has been overshadowed by nearby Hamburg for more than the past three hundred years. Lübeck was once called the "Queen of the Hanseatic League" and even a brief stroll through the old town make it clear why.

As in most other north German towns, brick was the building material of choice well into the 20th century. Lübeck has several brick Gothic churches, with the Marienkirche the most impressive. This church has a 38.5m-high nave, the highest brick nave in the world. It was constructed mostly between 1250 and 1350 and served as prototype for the numerous similar brick Gothic churches erected in northern Germany.

The late 15th-century Holstentor is another brick marvel. This mighty gate is the symbol of Lübeck and was erected more to impress than to serve any defensive purposes. It is still the preferred entrance onto the island.

Lübeck has two museums dedicated to two of the three German Nobel laureates for literature. The Buddenbrookhaus houses the museum dedicated to the brother Heinrich and Thomas Mann. Thomas Mann won the Nobel Prize in 1929 for his work Buddenbrooks, which tells the story of the decline of a rich patrician family in Lübeck during the 19th century. Günther Grass (The Tin Drum) won the Nobel Prize in 1999. However, in the Günther Grass Haus, the emphasis is on less-known aspects of his artistic life—drawings, paintings, and sculptures.

Parts of the Rathaus (Town Hall) date back to 1250, although the magnificent outside Renaissance staircase is clearly sixteenth century. The Hanseatic League traditionally met here.

Lübeck is home of famed marzipan manufacturer Niederegger. Its products can be bought at shops all over Germany, but nowhere is the selection as vast as in the Niederegger Café in Breite Straße.

Quick Tips:

Lübeck is a mere 45 minutes by car from Hamburg, making it an ideal day trip from its much larger neighbor. We spent a few hours here en route from Hamburg to Kühlungsborn on the Mecklenburg coast and regretted not having slept over. Although the main sights can be seen in a day, the town is infinitely more romantic than larger, modern Hamburg. We also would have loved to explore more of the narrow, medieval alleys by day and night. Furthermore, hotel prices seemed significantly lower than in Hamburg.

Lübeck was one of the richest and most powerful cities in medieval Germany. It was founded in 1143 and from 1226 until the nineteenth century was a Free Imperial City. Its location on a large island in the River Trave gave it a strategic, defensive advantage, and it grew to the third-largest city in Germany during the 14th century. In the Hanseatic League, Lübeck was the first amongst equals and the Hansetage (meetings of the Hanseatic League representatives) traditionally took place in Lübeck. The end of the Hanseatic League during the seventeenth century also meant the end of Lübeck’s leading role in German politics and trade.

Best Way To Get Around:

Lübeck’s old town is rather compact and best explored on foot. The main sights are in a pedestrianized zone anyway and a complex system of one-way streets ensures that strangers will regret having entered the old town by car. Directions are given for large parking garages at the edge of the old town but you are on your own once you try to exit the island again–-we were forced to explore the southern part of the island by car while trying to rejoin the main road.

Boat excursions are popular in summer with various options available including circling the island as well as daytrips to nearby Travemünde, a harbor and beach resort at the mouth of the Trave River. Most boats depart from near the Holstentor.

We were planning to breakfast in Hamburg, but a wrong turn, followed by a detour due to road works, saw us in an uninviting industrial zone. McDonalds, Burger King, and KFC were available, but frankly, a sandwich at an Autobahn gas station seemed more appealing. We decided to press through to Lübeck, which was only 40 minutes away.

Fortunately, I knew exactly where I wanted to have coffee in Lübeck. Café Niederegger is the best-known gastronomical institution in Lübeck. It is famous for its marzipan, and if they did not do breakfast, two helpings of cake would have done pretty fine in my opinion too.

Strolling from the parking lot at the edge of the old town, I was first struck by the town being more compact than I imagined and then overwhelmed by the size and beauty of the Marienkirche. Disappointment was certain to follow and sure did. I spotted Café Niederegger and sure, it was open too. I cannot recall what I had expected but it was not this–-a very modern-looking building, straight lines, a bit square, very sachlich; in fact, it was very typically no-nonsense North German.

The café is spread over two floors but with two strollers, we decided to stay on the ground floor, where our arrival promptly halved the average age of patrons. Baby Becks slept through the whole meal, and Toddler Becks knows how to behave in cafés. Despite this, I was pleasantly surprised by how kind the server (Frau Stauffenberg, according to the bill) was toward the child, even before she had a chance to show off her social skills.

I need not have worried about Niederegger’s menu–-they do breakfast, and they do it very well. We ordered two €6.70 breakfasts, which saw a combination of breads, toasts, bacon, and eggs appear that I cannot imagine purchasing for less than €10 in any similar place in Frankfurt. The rest of the family was delighted with their hot chocolates at a very reasonable €2.05 each. I, however, insist that lacing my hot chocolate with marzipan was worth the additional €0.65 splurge.

Niederegger did not invent marzipan, but it is this company more than any other that is responsible for marzipan being so popular in Germany. Its products are top-notch, and a wide range of chocolates, coffees, alcohol, and sweet combinations are available. We foolishly decided to purchase some wares after strolling through the town, just to find the shop so packed in the early afternoon that we decided to forgo the real Niederegger experience. A branch close to the Holstentor was less crowded but the selection was much smaller and I ended up purchasing just a small liqueur for myself and a tin of marzipan chocolates for our neighbor, who was taking care of our mail. Once back home, I had little trouble convincing myself one night that not everyone likes marzipan and ended up having to give her a jar of strawberry jam instead!

The Marienkirche (St. Mary’s) is one of the most impressive churches in Germany. It is a prime example of the magnificent brick Gothic buildings that typify the Hanseatic port cities of northern Germany. Although Lübeck has five major brick Gothic churches, the Marienkirche overshadows them all, not only in size but also in beauty.

Construction of the Marienkirche started in 1250, with the original plans calling for a hall church. However, the wave of French style swept through Germany during the 13th century and reached the north in time for the plans to be altered to a more typical Gothic triple-nave floor plan. The magnificent church that was constructed over the ensuing century showed off the flexibility and beauty of both the Gothic style and brick as construction material. The use of bricks makes Gothic churches appear both larger and more impressive than they would have been if built of stone.

The Marienkirche served as prototype for the number of brick Gothic churches that were erected in northern Germany and beyond during the late Middle Ages. However, none rivaled its 38.5m-high nave—the highest brick nave in the world. Its two slender, brick spires were completed in 1350 and soar 125m into the sky—impressive or any medieval construction material.

The interior has that lightness of being that seems to come easily to well-designed Gothic churches. As with many similar churches in the region, the interior colors are light, too, to further complement the amount of light let in by the huge Gothic windows. The church was damaged by an air raid in 1942, and in the process, much of the non-original interior decorations were burnt away. However, while damaging the newer paintwork, the fire exposed the long-forgotten 13th- and 14th-century polychromatic decorations. These have been restored after the war and are the decorations in place today.

At the back of the church are two bells that fell from the south tower after the air raid and fire. They lay where they fell to serve as a reminder of the destructiveness of war. They certainly made an impression on my three-year-old, who for months after referred to any ringing bell as "Campaña nicht kaputt!"

Outside the church is a modern statue (1999) of a devil seated on a boulder. According to legend, the devil was under the impression that the church under construction was in fact a drinking hall. Anticipating the gains that would follow from such venture, he joined the construction team resulting in faster than expected progress. When it became clear that a church was being built, the tricked devil grabbed this boulder—his claw marks are still visible—and planned to destroy the walls. However, he was convinced to leave the church undamaged when told that a drinking hall was being constructed next door—the wine cellars of the adjacent Rathaus.

The Marienkirche is open daily from 10am to 6pm.

Marienkirche, Schüsselbuden 13, Lübeck, Tel 0451-397-700

Lübeck’s most famous son is Thomas Mann, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929 specifically for his youth novel Buddenbrooks—Verfall einer Familie (Buddenbrooks—The Decline of a Family). (Mann was slightly irritated by this, as he considered his later works of higher quality, and his novel Zauberberg, which appeared in the late 1920s, was specifically criticized by influential Scandinavian academics just days prior to the award of the prize.)

Thomas Mann was world-famous in the 1930s, and his severe criticism of the Nazis made him unpopular at home. In 1933, he decided not to return from a foreign lecture tour and settled in Switzerland. The Nazis confiscated his property and forced the University of Bonn to strip Mann of his honorary Doctorate. It is hard to imagine what the Nazis thought such a petty act would achieve—certainly not that Harvard, Oxford, Lund, and Cambridge would soon offer him honorary Doctorates instead. During the Second World War, Thomas Mann lived in the U.S., but he returned to Switzerland in 1952, where he died in 1955.

Thomas Mann wrote Buddenbrooks when he was 26. It was published in October 1901 in two volumes—Mann had refused his publisher’s request to reduce the hefty work (758 pages in modern German print) by half. The work was initially not that well-received, although a single critic predicted that it would grow with time and that many future generations would still read it. The work was well-known by the time the Nobel Prize was awarded, but its circulation obviously ballooned afterwards. It is still considered a classical work in German literature and a standard work read in German high schools. It is a surprisingly easy book to read, with the language used still modern and fresh more than a century later.

The book is set in the Buddenbrookhaus in Mengstraße 4, which once belonged to Mann’s grandfather. Thomas and his brother Heinrich, also a prolific writer, spent part of their youth here. It tells the story of a rich Lübeck patrician family, the Buddenbrooks, and the decline of the family’s fortunes and morals during the 19th century.

The house was damaged during the Second World War, but its beautiful façade was restored, and the modern interior now houses the Thomas and Heinrich Mann Center—highly recommended, but only for those interested in German literature.

No less famous is Danzig-born writer Günther Grass (Die Blechtrommel/The Tin Drum), who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1999. In the Günther Grass Haus, Glockengießerstraße 21, literature is not ignored, but the focus is on the lesser-known aspects of his artistic genre: drawings, paintings, and sculptures. An interesting museum, but mostly of interest to dedicated Grass fans (there are many).

Amazon sales ranks at time of writing of current best-selling editions:
Buddenbrooks - 118,658 (USA) / 2,563 (Germany)
Tin Drum - 17,826 (USA) / 1,238 (Germany)

Lübeck’s old town is on an island in the Trave River. This made for excellent defenses against medieval military technology, allowing Lübeck to grow to one of the richest cities in medieval Germany. The old town’s street layout maintained its original medieval grid allowing the whole island to be included on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage list. More than a thousand buildings are listed, with the brick Gothic ones particularly impressive. The Dutch gabled style was long favored by the patrician families, and many houses survived.

The preferred entrance to the island is via the causeway behind the Holstentor (Holsten gate). This fortified gate was constructed in the late 15th century more as a prestige than a defensive project. The gate is on the mainland and in front of the actual defensive walls. The gate is of brick, with two thick, round towers. It is the symbol of Lübeck and mostly photographed from the mainland with the steeple of the brick Gothic Petrikirche in the background. However, the façade facing the old town is the more interesting, with more decorations and Romanesque blind arches. The tower now houses a local history museum.

When walking into the town, the Petrikirche (Peter’s Church) is to the right. It apparently offers marvelous views from its tower, but as we visited on a misty, rainy day, even the availability of an elevator could not tempt us to take a peek.

The main sights in Lübeck are either in or directly off Breitestraße, which is at least partly pedestrianized. Parts of the impressive L-shaped Rathaus (Town Hall) date back to 1250. It is mostly a brick Gothic building with open arcades at street level used for market trading. Note the decorative walls that were added to the top of the building to give it a more impressive appearance. The candlesnuffer turrets are a repeating theme in civilian brick Gothic buildings of the Hanseatic towns. (The Rathaus in Stralsund is a particularly good example.) On Breite Straße, the Rathaus has a wonderful late 16th-century Dutch Renaissance external staircase, while the north wing’s Renaissance sandstone façade faces the Market Square. The Hansasaal, where the Hanseatic League met, is inside the Rathaus but can only be seen on a guided tour, which we unfortunately missed by a few minutes.

Behind the Rathaus is the magnificent Marienkirche, and adjacent to it, at Mengstraße 4, is the Buddenbrookhaus. Further down Breite Straße is the Renaissance façade of the Haus der Schiffergeschellschaft (House of the Seamen’s Guild). It now houses a restaurant (reservations highly advisable), but even if not eating here, peek in to see the lovely interior of this former seamen’s tavern.

Across the road is the Jakobikirche, another fine brick Gothic church with particularly interesting woodcarvings. The two organ lofts date from the 16th and 17th centuries. A lifeboat of the Palmir, a Lübeck full-rigged training ship that sank in 1957 with all hands, reminds me of Lübeck’s close connections and long dependence on the sea for its wealth and continued existence.

The Hanseatic League (in Germa, simply Hanse) was formed during the 13th century by a guild of traders. However, it soon changed into a loose confederation of cities that banded together to promote trade. They were in favor of free trade; free more in the sense of free amongst members than free for all.

The Hanse was at its peak during the 14th and 15th centuries. During this period, when the German (Holy Roman) emperor and princes were constantly fighting to erode each other’s powers, the Hanse became the strongest political force in the German-speaking world. The Hanse was generally in favor of peace, as peace is conducive to trade. However, it did not shy away from war, either, when its interests were threatened. The peak of the Hanse’s economic power coincided with the peak of its military might when Denmark was militarily forced out of the Eastern Baltic Sea region at the end of the 14th century.

The Hanse had no formal constitution or procedures. Infrequent meeting would be called, usually in Lübeck, where representatives of the towns would debate the issue at hand and take decisions by consensus. In total, around 164 towns belonged to it at one time or another—a formal list was never kept! Although the Hanse is mostly associated with the port cities of northern Germany, especially on the Baltic Sea, many members were inland and supplied mined materials, wood, and agricultural products to trade with the Baltic region. Hanseatic cities, including Lübeck, were usually ruled by a small, rich patrician elite who generally had little scruples about suppressing the lower classes. It was not a fixed rule, but cities ruled by nobles were generally not included in the league—Berlin, for example, was forced out after the Hohenzollerns moved in. Throughout the existence of the Hanse, Lübeck was the richest and most powerful city in the League and known as the Queen of the Hanse.

The Hanseatic Leagues decline was due to the development of nation states strong enough to challenge the league’s trade monopoly. During the 16th century, the Hanse was forced out of London and Amsterdam, and by the end of the century was a shadow of its former self. The final blow was the destructive Thirty Years’ War (1618-48). Around a third of the general population in Germany died during this period—mostly of starvation. In terms of percentage of the population killed, it was the worst war in German history (possibly also in European history). The war, which started as a squabble over the religion of the king of Bohemia, involved all European powers fighting on German soil. Apart from the various German states, the war also involved Austria, Spain, France, England, Holland, Denmark, and Sweden—alliances and allegiances changed frequently. The war formally ended with the Peace of Westphalia (1648)—the treaty took four years to negotiate (simultaneously in two Westphalian towns) with considerable time spent on protocol issues. Who should enter the hall last: the queen of Spain or the king of France?

It also meant the end of the Hanse—trade routes were permanently altered, many areas were impoverished, and Sweden occupied former Hanseatic cities in the north of Germany. Although the last Hansetage took place only in 1669, the league has long been a spent force. Only six cities attended the final meeting in Lübeck.

Lübeck went into decline from the 17th century onwards. Changing trade routes meant that its access to the Baltic Sea had little advantage. The Swedish preferred to use Wismar, which it controlled until the early nineteenth century, while Prussia gave preference to Stettin (now in modern-day Poland). The Dutch sailed around Denmark, rather than unloading cargo in Hamburg for overland transportation to Lübeck. Hamburg, which played second-fiddle to Lübeck in the Hanseatic League, increasingly used its access to the Atlantic to its advantage to become Germany’s gateway to the world. Modern-day Hamburg has 1.6 million inhabitants—eight times the size of modern-day Lübeck.

Lübeck saw a minor revival in its fortunes at the end of the 19th century, when a canal linking the rivers Trave and Elbe were completed to improve trade opportunities. Following the Second World War, Lübeck doubled its population, with refugees fleeing from former German territories in Eastern Europe. Ever since, Lübeck has been a relatively rich city with dynamic industries, in addition to tourism.

Politically, Lübeck has been less successful since the end of the Hanseatic League. Lubeck managed to remain an independent city-state inside the German Empire and later Republic, but lost this status during the 1930s. After the Second World War, Lübeck attempted to regain city-state status similarly to Hamburg and Bremen, but its attempts were thwarted and it became a provincial town in the larger state of Schleswig-Holstein.

The Hanseatic city-states of Bremen and Hamburg have long included Hanse in their official names to remind of the glory years of centuries past. In recent years, former East German cities such as Wismar, Rostock, and Stralsund have also added Hanse to their names hoping to lure more tourists. Lübeck is unfazed by this. It is well-known that Lübeck is the Queen of the Hanse and a visit to these cities only confirms that notion even centuries after the Hanseatic League disbanded. Bremen and especially Hamburg are too large and modern to rekindle memories of the medieval league. The former East German cities are still a bit shabby—although the main tourist destinations are well-restored, two blocks off the center, the rot tends to prevail. Lübeck, in contrast, is in top condition no matter where in the old town you may wish to wander. It is clean and correct in a typical north German way. Three centuries on, Lübeck still is the undisputed Queen of the Hanse.