Lübeck (German: [ˈlyːbɛk]; Low German: Lübęk or Lübeek [ˈlyːbeːk]; Latin: Lubeca), officially called the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (German: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in northern Germany. With about 220,000 people, it is the second-largest city on Germany’s 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.

The city is located in the Holsatian part of Schleswig-Holstein, at the mouth of the Trave River, which flows into the Bay of Lübeck in the area of Travemünde. The river’s tributary, the Wakenitz, also flows through the region. The island with the historic old town and the areas north of the Trave are in the historical region of Wagria. Lübeck is the farthest southwest city on the Baltic Sea and the closest point to the Baltic Sea from Hamburg. The city is in the Holsatian dialect area of Low German.

The name Lübeck comes from the Slavic root lub- (“love”). Before 819, Polabian Slavs built a settlement called Liubice at the mouth of the Schwartau River into the Trave. Since the 10th century, Liubice was the second-most important settlement of the Obotrites after Starigard. Lübeck received city rights in 1160 and became a city directly under the Holy Roman Emperor in 1260. In the middle of the 12th century, Lübeck became the birthplace of the Hanseatic League, which considered it its de facto capital and most important city. The Lübeck law was later used by about 100 cities in the Baltic region. Lübeck remained an independent city, which it had been since 1226, until 1937.

Lübeck’s historic old town, on a densely built-up island, is Germany’s largest UNESCO World Heritage Site. With six church towers taller than 100 meters (330 feet), Lübeck has the most tall church towers of any city in the world. Known as the “City of the Seven Towers” (Stadt der Sieben Türme), Lübeck’s skyline is shaped by the seven towers of its five main Protestant churches: St. Mary’s, Lübeck Cathedral, St. James’, St. Peter’s, and St. Giles’s. The cathedral, built between 1173 and 1335, was the first large brick church in the Baltic region. St. Mary’s Church, built between 1265 and 1351, is the model for many other Brick Gothic churches in the Hanseatic League’s area. It is the second-tallest church with two main towers after Cologne Cathedral (which became taller in 1880), has the tallest brick vault, and is the second-tallest brick structure after St. Martin’s Church in Landshut.

Lübeck is home to the University of Lübeck, its University Medical Center Schleswig Holstein, the Technical University of Applied Sciences Lübeck, and the Lübeck Academy of Music. There are 18 museums in Lübeck, including the European Hansemuseum, Lübeck Museum Port, and the Niederegger Marzipan Museum, which honors Lübeck Marzipan, the city’s most famous food. Because of its location in the southwest, Travemünde and nearby seaside resorts like Niendorf, Timmendorfer Strand, Scharbeutz, Haffkrug, Sierksdorf, and Grömitz are among Germany’s most visited places.

Lübeck Main Station is on the Vogelfluglinie railway line, which connects continental Europe (Hamburg) to Scandinavia (Copenhagen) via the future Fehmarn Belt fixed link. The port of Lübeck is the second-largest German port on the Baltic Sea after Rostock, and the Skandinavienkai in Travemünde is Germany’s most important ferry port, with connections to Scandinavia and the Baltic countries. Lübeck has its own regional airport at Lübeck-Blankensee, while nearby Hamburg Airport serves as the city’s main air hub.

History

Humans settled in the area that is now Lübeck after the last Ice Age ended around 9700 BCE. Several Neolithic dolmens, which are ancient stone structures, can be found in the region.

Around 700 AD, Slavic people began moving into the eastern parts of Holstein, an area that had been previously inhabited by Germanic people who had left during the Migration Period. Charlemagne, who tried to spread Christianity in the area, faced resistance from the Germanic Saxons. He forced many Saxons to leave and brought in Polabian Slavs as allies. Liubice, a town whose name means "how lovely," was established near the River Trave about 4 km (2.5 mi) north of Lübeck’s current city center.

In the 10th century, Liubice became the most important settlement of the Obotrite confederacy, and a castle was built there. In 1128, the pagan Rani people from Rügen destroyed Liubice.

In 1143, Adolf II, Count of Schauenburg and Holstein, founded the modern town of Lübeck as a German settlement on the island of Bucu. He built a new castle, which was first recorded in 1147. Adolf had to give the castle to Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, in 1158. After Henry lost power in 1181, the town became an Imperial city for eight years.

Emperor Barbarossa, who ruled from 1152 to 1190, ordered that Lübeck have a ruling council of 20 members. This council, led by merchants, influenced Lübeck’s politics for centuries. The council remained active until the 19th century. The town and castle changed ownership several times and were part of the Duchy of Saxony until 1192, the County of Holstein until 1217, and the Kingdom of Denmark until the Battle of Bornhöved in 1227.

Around 1200, Lübeck became the main starting point for colonists traveling to Baltic territories controlled by the Livonian and Teutonic Orders. In 1226, Emperor Frederick II granted Lübeck the status of an Imperial free city, making it the Free City of Lübeck.

In the 14th century, Lübeck became the "Queen of the Hanseatic League," the largest and most powerful member of this medieval trade group. In 1375, Emperor Charles IV named Lübeck one of the five "Glories of the Empire," along with Venice, Rome, Pisa, and Florence.

Disputes over trade rights led to conflicts between Lübeck (and the Hanseatic League) and Denmark and Norway. Lübeck and the League won some battles in 1435 and 1512 but lost during the Count’s Feud, a Danish civil war from 1534 to 1536. Lübeck also joined the pro-Lutheran Schmalkaldic League in the mid-16th century.

After losing the Count’s Feud, Lübeck’s power declined. The city stayed neutral during the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648), but the war’s destruction and changes in European trade weakened the Hanseatic League and Lübeck. Even after the League officially ended in 1669, Lübeck remained an important trading city on the Baltic Sea.

During the War of the Fourth Coalition against Napoleon, French forces led by Marshal Jean Baptiste Bernadotte (later King of Sweden) captured Lübeck in 1806 after fighting Prussian General Gebhard Blücher. Under Napoleon’s Continental System, Lübeck’s state bank went bankrupt. In 1811, France officially took control of Lübeck, but anti-Napoleonic allies recaptured the area in 1813.

After Napoleon’s defeat, the Congress of Vienna in 1815 recognized Lübeck as an independent free city. It became part of the German Confederation (1815–1866), the North German Confederation (1866–1871), and the German Empire (1871–1918).

During the Franco-Prussian War, the Lübeck Fusilier Battalion was part of the "2nd Hanseatic Infantry Regiment No. 76." At the Battle of Loigny, the regiment’s commander encouraged soldiers to remember the bravery of the Hanseatic League. This action surprised the French, leading to their defeat. This event inspired the founding of the 3rd Hanseatic Infantry Regiment No. 162 in 1897. The battalion commander later became the regiment’s leader.

After World War I ended and the German Empire fell, Lübeck became part of the Weimar Republic (1919–1933). When the Nazis took control, Lübeck was forced to follow their policies, a process called Gleichschaltung. In 1933, Friedrich Hildebrandt became Reich Governor of Lübeck, replacing the elected Social Democrat mayor, Paul Löwigt. In 1934, the Reich government abolished state parliaments, ending Lübeck’s status as a federal state. In 1937, Lübeck was absorbed into the Prussian Province of Schleswig-Holstein, ending its 711-year history as an independent free city.

During World War II (1939–1945), Lübeck was the first German city heavily bombed by the Royal Air Force (RAF). On March 28, 1942, a firestorm destroyed much of the city, including three main churches and over 9,000 buildings. More than 320 people died. The industrial area was bombed again on August 25, 1944, killing 110 people. Nearly 20% of the city center was destroyed, especially in the Gründungsviertel neighborhood, where wealthy Hanseatic League merchants once lived. A prisoner-of-war camp for officers, Oflag X-C, operated near Lübeck from 1940 to 1945. British forces captured Lübeck

Climate

Lübeck has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb; Trewartha: Dobk). It is located on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea and is influenced by the ocean. The average temperature each year ranges from 2 °C (36 °F) in winter to 18 °C (64 °F) in summer. Even though summers are cooler than inland areas, there are still many days with very high temperatures. On average, 6.6 days per year have temperatures above 30 °C (86 °F).

The Lübeck weather station has recorded these extreme weather events:

• Highest Temperature: 38.0 °C (100.4 °F) on 9 August 1982.
• Warmest Minimum: 21.5 °C (70.7 °F) on 30 July 2018.
• Coldest Maximum: −16.1 °C (3.0 °F) on 18 January 1893.
• Lowest Temperature: −27.2 °C (−17.0 °F) on 4 February 1912.
• Highest Daily Precipitation: 95.7 mm (3.77 in) on 17 July 2002.
• Wettest Month: 188.9 mm (7.44 in) in August 2010.
• Wettest Year: 933.9 mm (36.77 in) in 1998.
• Driest Year: 381.3 mm (15.01 in) in 1959.
• Longest Annual Sunshine: 2,064.5 hours in 1959.
• Shortest Annual Sunshine: 1,300.7 hours in 1998.

Population

Lübeck has a population of about 217,000 people and is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein. Lübeck became an important city after joining the Hanseatic League in the 15th century. Later, it became one of the leading Hanseatic cities in Europe. After World War II, the population of Lübeck grew quickly because of the refugee crisis, as many people from East Prussia and other former parts of Germany had to leave their homes and move there. The population started to decrease in the 1970s but increased again in the 1990s after German Reunification, when many people from former East Germany moved to Lübeck because it is located near the former East German border. Today, Lübeck is a popular tourist destination because of its rich history and Hanseatic architecture, and it is known as one of the most beautiful cities in Germany.

The largest ethnic minority groups in Lübeck include Turks, people from Central Europe (such as Poles), people from Southern Europe (mostly Greeks and Italians), people from Eastern Europe (such as Russians and Ukrainians), Arabs, and several smaller groups.

Politics

The current mayor of Lübeck is Jan Lindenau of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). The most recent mayoral election took place in 2017. The Lübeck city council works with the mayor to govern the city.

Culture

In 2019, Lübeck had 2 million overnight stays. Lübeck is known for its medieval city center, which includes churches, the Holstentor, and small streets. Lübeck is called "Die Stadt der 7 Türme" (the city of seven towers) because of its seven church towers. Like many places in Germany, Lübeck has a long tradition of a Christmas market in December. This market includes a famous handicrafts market inside the Heiligen-Geist-Hospital (Hospital of the Holy Spirit), located at the northern end of Königstrasse.

More than 80% of the old town has kept its medieval look, with historic buildings and narrow streets. The rest of the area is being restored or reconstructed. At one time, the town could only be entered through four gates, two of which still exist today: the well-known Holstentor (built in 1478) and the Burgtor (built in 1444).

The old town center is dominated by seven church steeples. The oldest are Lübeck Cathedral and the Marienkirche (Saint Mary's), both built in the 13th and 14th centuries.

The Hospital of the Holy Spirit at Koberg, built in 1286, is one of the oldest existing social institutions in the world and one of the most important buildings in the city. The hospital serves as a retirement and nursing home. Some historical parts of the building are open to the public for viewing.

Other sights include:
• The City Hall
• St. Catherine's Church, which was once part of a monastery and now houses the Katharineum, a Latin school
• Thomas Mann's house
• Günter Grass's house
• Church of St Peter
• Church of St Lawrence, located on the site of a cemetery for people who died during the 16th-century plague
• Church of St James (built in 1334)
• Church of the Sacred Heart
• Church of St Aegidien
• The Salzspeicher, historic warehouses where salt from Lüneburg was stored before being shipped to Baltic ports
• The City of Travemünde on the Baltic Sea coast.

The composer Franz Tunder was the main organist at the Marienkirche in Lübeck when he started the tradition of weekly Abendmusiken. In 1668, his daughter Anna Margarethe married the Danish-German composer Dieterich Buxtehude, who became the new organist at the Marienkirche. Many famous composers, including Handel, Mattheson, and Bach, visited Lübeck to hear Buxtehude perform.

Writer and Nobel laureate Thomas Mann was part of the Mann family of Lübeck merchants. His famous 1901 novel Buddenbrooks introduced readers to the lifestyle of 19th-century Lübeck's middle class.

In the 1950s, Lübeck was involved in an art scandal. Lothar Malskat was hired to restore medieval frescoes in the Marienkirche, which had been damaged during World War II. Instead, he painted new works and claimed they were restorations. He later admitted the deception. Writer and Nobel laureate Günter Grass wrote about this event in his 1986 novel The Rat. Günter Grass lived near Lübeck in Behlendorf from 1995 until his death in 2015.

Lübeck has many small museums, such as the St. Anne's Museum Quarter, the Behnhaus, the European Hansemuseum, and the Holstentor. The Lübeck Museum of Theatre Puppets is privately owned. Waterside attractions include a lightvessel that served the Fehmarnbelt and the Lisa von Lübeck, a reconstruction of a 15th-century Hanseatic caravel. The marzipan museum, located on the second floor of Café Niederegger in Breite Strasse, explains the history of marzipan and displays historical tools used to make marzipan blocks and marzipan figures.

Lübeck is famous for its marzipan industry. According to local legend, marzipan was first made in Lübeck, possibly during a military siege or a year of famine. The story suggests that the city ran out of food except for stored almonds and sugar, which were used to make marzipan "bread." Others believe marzipan was invented in Persia centuries earlier. The best-known producer is Niederegger, which tourists often visit, especially during Christmas.

The Lübeck wine trade dates back to Hanseatic times. A local specialty is Rotspon, a wine made from grapes processed in France and transported to Lübeck in wooden barrels. There, it is stored, aged, and bottled.

Like other coastal North German communities, Fischbrötchen and Brathering are popular takeaway foods due to the variety of fish available.

Sports

Lübeck is home to a football team called VfB Lübeck, which plays in the 3. Liga. The team plays its matches at the Stadion an der Lohmühle, a stadium that can hold 17,849 people. In addition to football, the sports club also has sections for badminton, women's gymnastics, handball, and table tennis.

Education

Lübeck has three universities: the University of Lübeck, the Technical University of Applied Sciences Lübeck, and the Lübeck Academy of Music. The Graduate School for Computing in Medicine and Life Sciences is a main part of the university and was started by the German Excellence Initiative (archived on September 25, 2009, at the Wayback Machine). The International School of New Media is a connected institute of the university. The Academy of Hearing Acoustics is Germany’s main training center for hearing aid professionals and is responsible for job training across the hearing aid industry in Germany.

Districts

The city of Lübeck is divided into 10 zones. These zones are grouped into a total of 35 urban districts. Each zone has an official number, is connected to specific urban districts, and has a certain number of people living in the areas:

• 01 City centre (~12,000 inhabitants)
• The Innenstadt is the main place where tourists visit. It includes the old town and the former walls. It is the oldest and smallest part of Lübeck.

• 02 St. Jürgen (~40,000 inhabitants)
• This zone includes the areas Hüxtertor / Mühlentor / Gärtnergasse, Strecknitz / Rothebek, Blankensee, Wulfsdorf, Beidendorf, Krummesse, Kronsforde, Niederbüssau, Vorrade, Schiereichenkoppel, Oberbüssau. St. Jürgen is one of three historic suburbs of Lübeck (alongside St. Lorenz and St. Gertrud). It is located south of the city centre and is the largest part of the city.

• 03 Moisling (~10,000 inhabitants)
• This zone includes the areas Niendorf / Moorgarten, Reecke, Old-Moisling / Genin. Moisling is in the far south-west. Its history dates back to the 17th century.

• 04 Buntekuh (~10,000 inhabitants)
• Buntekuh is in the west of Lübeck. A large part of this zone includes commercial areas, such as the Citti-Park, which is Lübeck’s largest mall.

• 05 St. Lorenz-South (~12,000 inhabitants)
• This zone is in the south-west of the city centre and has the highest number of people living in a small area. The main train and bus station are in the northern part of this zone.

• 06 St. Lorenz-North (~40,000 inhabitants)
• This zone includes the areas Holstentor-North, Falkenfeld / Vorwerk / Teerhof, Großsteinrade / Schönböcken, Dornbreite / Krempelsdorf. St. Lorenz-North is in the north-west of Lübeck. It is separated from its southern part by railways.

• 07 St. Gertrud (~40,000 inhabitants)
• This zone includes the areas Burgtor / Stadtpark, Marli / Brandenbaum, Eichholz, Karlshof / Israelsdorf / Gothmund. St. Gertrud is in the east of the city centre. This area is mostly natural, with many parks, the rivers Wakenitz and Trave, and the forest Lauerholz.

• 08 Schlutup (~6,000 inhabitants)
• Schlutup is in the far east of Lübeck. It is separated from other parts of the city by the forest Lauerholz in the west and the river Trave in the north.

• 09 Kücknitz (~20,000 inhabitants)
• This zone includes the areas Dänischburg / Siems / Rangenberg / Wallberg, Herrenwyk, Alt-Kücknitz / Dummersdorf / Roter Hahn, Poeppendorf. Kücknitz is north of the river Trave. It was once the main industrial area of Lübeck.

• 10 Travemünde (~15,000 inhabitants)
• This zone includes the areas Ivendorf, Alt-Travemünde / Rönnau, Priwall, Teutendorf, Brodten. Travemünde is in the far north-east of Lübeck, near the Baltic Sea. It has a long beach and coastline, making it the second-largest tourist destination.

International relations

Lübeck has twin city relationships with:

• Kotka, Finland (1969)
• Wismar, Germany (1987)
• La Rochelle, France (1988)
• Klaipėda, Lithuania (1990)
• Visby, Sweden (1999)

Lübeck also maintains friendly relationships with:

• Venice, Italy (1979)
• Kawasaki, Japan (1992)
• Bergen, Norway (1996)
• Shaoxing, China (2003)

Transport

Lübeck is connected to three main motorways (Autobahnen). The A1 Motorway goes north to the island of Fehmarn and Copenhagen in Denmark and south to Hamburg, Bremen, and Cologne. The A20 Motorway travels east to Wismar, Rostock, and Szczecin in Poland and west to Bad Segeberg and the North Sea. The A226 Motorway begins in central Lübeck and heads northeast to the seaport city of Travemünde.

Lübeck has several railway stations. The main one is Lübeck Hauptbahnhof, which handles about 31,000 passengers each day and is the busiest station in Schleswig-Holstein. This station primarily serves regional trains traveling to Hamburg, Lüneburg, Kiel, the island of Fehmarn, and Szczecin in Poland. Some long-distance trains also go to Munich, Frankfurt am Main, and Cologne. Extra train services are available during summer holidays. Until the end of 2019, Lübeck was a stop on the Vogelfluglinie train line connecting Hamburg to Copenhagen in Denmark.

Public transportation by bus is managed by the Lübeck City-Traffic-Company (Lübecker Stadtverkehr). There are 40 bus lines that serve the city and surrounding areas, along with regional bus services.

The district of Travemünde is located on the Baltic Sea and contains the city’s main port. The Scandinavienkai (the quay of Scandinavia) is the starting point for ferry routes to Malmö and Trelleborg in Sweden; Liepāja in Latvia; Helsinki in Finland; and Saint Petersburg in Russia. It is the second-largest German port on the Baltic Sea.

Lübeck Airport is located in the southern part of Lübeck in the town of Blankensee. It offers limited international flight services. The nearest major airport is Hamburg Airport, which is 74 km (46 miles) to the southwest of Lübeck.

Notable people

• Laurentius Surius (1522–1578), Carthusian monk and writer about religious figures
• August Hermann Francke (1663–1727), teacher, theologian, helped start the Francke Foundations
• Johann Lorenz von Mosheim (1693–1755), Lutheran church historian
• Lübeck Martyrs: Three Roman Catholic priests and one Evangelical Lutheran clergyman were beheaded on November 10, 1943, within three minutes of each other at Hamburg's Holstenglacis Prison in 1943
• Ephraim Carlebach (1879–1936), rabbi and founder of the Higher Israelite School in Leipzig
• Joseph Carlebach (1883–1942), rabbi, victim of the Holocaust
• Felix Carlebach (1911–2008), rabbi

• Werner Huno (died in 1291 in Lübeck), merchant and council member of the Hanseatic city of Lübeck
• Johann Wittenborg (1321–1363), Mayor of Lübeck, lost the Battle of Helsingborg
• Jürgen Wullenwever (born around 1492–1537), mayor of Lübeck from 1533 to 1535
• George Wulweber, a 16th-century Protestant who was tortured on the rack
• Friedrich Krüger (1819–1896), diplomat for the Hanseatic cities of Lübeck, Hamburg, and Bremen
• John Rugee (1827–1894), politician in Wisconsin, USA
• Gustav Radbruch (1878–1949), legal scholar and politician
• Hermann Lüdemann (1880–1959), CDU politician
• Otto-Heinrich Drechsler (1895–1945), Mayor of Lübeck from 1933 to 1937, set up the Riga ghetto
• Haim Cohn (1911–2002), Israeli lawyer and politician
• Willy Brandt (1913–1992), SPD politician, German chancellor
• Helga Kleiner (born 1935), CDU politician
• Björn Engholm (born 1939), SPD politician
• Robert Habeck (born 1969), writer and politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens
• Birgitt Ory (born 1964), diplomat
• Beatrix von Storch (born 1971), AfD politician, former MEP

• Benjamin Block (1631–1690), German-Hungarian Baroque painter
• Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646–17