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Lübeck
Holstentor
Coordinates	53°52′11″N 10°41′11″E / 53.86972°N 10.68639°E / 53.86972; 10.68639Coordinates: 53°52′11″N 10°41′11″E / 53.86972°N 10.68639°E / 53.86972; 10.68639
Administration
Country	Germany
State	Schleswig-Holstein
District	Urban district
City subdivisions	35 Stadtbezirke
Mayor	Bernd Saxe (SPD)
Governing party	CDU
Basic statistics
Area	214.13 km2 (82.68 sq mi)
Elevation	13 m  (43 ft)
Population	210,232 (31 December 2010)[1]
- Density	982 /km2 (2,543 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	HL (1906–1937; since 1956)[2]
Postal codes	23501−23570
Area codes	0451, 04502
Website	www.luebeck.de

Hanseatic City of Lübeck *
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Aerial view of the old town
Country	Germany
Type	Cultural
Criteria	iv
Reference	272
Region **	Europe and North America
Inscription history
Inscription	1987 (11th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List ** Region as classified by UNESCO

The Hanseatic City of Lübeck (pronounced [ˈlyːbɛk] ( listen), Low German [ˈlyːbɛːk]) 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 listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. In 2005 it had a population of 213,983.

Situated on the river Trave, 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. The Autobahn 1 connects Lübeck with Hamburg and Denmark (Vogelfluglinie). The borough of Travemünde is a sea resort and ferry port on the coast of the Baltic Sea. Its central station links Lübeck to a number of lines, notably the line to Hamburg.

History[link]

The area around Lübeck was settled after the last Ice Age. Several Neolithic dolmens can be found in the area.

Around AD 700 Slavic peoples started coming into the eastern parts of Holstein which had previously been settled by Germanic inhabitants and were then evacuated in the course of the Migration Period. In the early 9th century Charlemagne, whose attempts to Christianise the area were opposed by the Saxons, moved the Saxons out and brought in Polabian Slavs, allied to Charlemagne, in their stead. Liubice ("lovely") was founded on the banks of the river Trave 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 the 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 from power in 1181, the town became an Imperial city for eight years.^{[citation needed]} Emperor Barbarossa ordained that the city should have a ruling council of twenty members. Being dominated by merchants, it meant Lübeck's politics were dominated by trade interests for centuries to come. The council survived into the 19th century.

The town and castle changed ownership for a period afterwards and were 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.

Lübeck's seal, 1280

Around 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 the status of an Imperial Free City, by which it became 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 its defeat in the Count's Feud, Lübeck's power slowly declined. The city 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. However, after the Hanseatic League was de facto disbanded in 1669, Lübeck still remained an important trading town on the Baltic Sea.

The great Danish-German composer Dieterich Buxtehude (born in what is present-day Sweden) 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, whereby 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 after it had refused to allow him to campaign there in 1932^[3]), the 711-year-long independence of Lübeck came to an end and almost all its territory was incorporated into Schleswig-Holstein.

Lübeck, 15th century

Lübeck in 1641

During 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 occurred in the Bay of Lübeck when RAF bombers sank three ships - the SS Cap Arcona, the SS Deutschland, and the SS Thielbek - 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 on the inner German border during the division of Germany into two 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 (32.81 ft) 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.

Lübeck was the scene of a notable art scandal in the 1950s. Lothar Malskat was hired to restore the medieval frescoes of the cathedral of the Marienkirche in Lübeck, which were discovered inside the walls after the cathedral had been badly damaged during World War II. Instead he painted new works which were passed off as restorations, fooling many experts. The West German government printed 2 million postage stamps depicting the frescoes. Among Malskat's additions were wild turkeys, unknown in Europe during the Middle Ages. Some experts considered this evidence for the early discovery of America by the Vikings. Malskat later exposed the deception himself. The incident plays a prominent role in Günter Grass's novel The Rat.

On the night of January, 18th 1996 a fire broke out in a home for foreign refugees, killing 10 people and severely injuring more than 30 others, mostly children. While most of the shelter's inhabitants considered a racist motivation for the attack obvious,^[4] the police and the local court have been accused of having ruled out racism as a possible motive before even beginning preliminary investigations.^[5] The incident has not been elucidated to this day.

Main sights[link]

Town Hall

Fehmarnbelt Lightship in front of the Concert and Congress Center

Hospital of the Holy Spirit, one of the oldest social institutions of Lübeck (1260)

A typical crow-stepped gabled town house

St. Mary's Church, Lübeck

Demographics[link]

As of 2010, the city had a population of 210,232. Hence Lübeck has seen a slight decrease in population since 2006. The largest ethnic minority groups are Turks, Southern Europeans (mostly Greeks and Italians), Eastern Europeans (e.g. Poles, Russians), Arabs and several other smaller groups. As in other German cities, there is also an increasing and vibrant Afro-German community.^[6] Population structure^[7]

Buildings[link]

Much of the old town has kept a medieval appearance with old buildings and narrow streets. At one time the town could only be entered via any of four town gates, of which today two remain, the well-known Holstentor (1478) and the Burgtor (1444).

The old town centre is dominated by seven church steeples. The oldest are the Lübecker Dom (the city's cathedral) and the Marienkirche (Saint Mary's), both from the 13th and 14th centuries.

Other sights include:

• the Lübecker Rathaus (Town Hall).
• Saint Catherine Church, Lübeck, a church that belonged to a former monastery, now the Katharineum, a Latin school.
• Thomas Mann's house.
• Günter Grass' house.
• Church of St. Peter ("Petrikirche").
• Church of St. Lawrence, located on the site of a cemetery for people who died during the 16th century plague.
• Church of St. Jacob (Lübecker Jakobikirche, 1334).
• Church of St. Aegidien ("Aegidienkirche").
• 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 of a Christmas market in December, which includes the famous handicrafts market inside the Heiligen-Geist-Hospital (Hospital of the Holy Spirit), located at the northern end of Königstrasse.

Museums[link]

Lübeck has many small museums, such as 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 the Lisa von Lübeck, a reconstruction of a Hanseatic 15th century caravel.

Food and drink[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Lübeck is famous for its marzipan industry. According to local legend, marzipan was first made in Lübeck, possibly in response either to a military siege of the city or a famine year. The story, perhaps apocryphal, is that the town ran out of all food except stored almonds and sugar, which were used 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 at 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[link]

Lübeck has three universities, the University of Lübeck, the Lübeck Academy of Applied Sciences, and the Lübeck Academy of Music. The Graduate School for Computing in Medicine and Life Sciences is a central faculty of the University and was founded by the German Excellence Initiative. The International School of New Media is an affiliated institute of the University.

Notable people[link]

• Robert Christian Avé-Lallemant - explorer
• Hans Blumenberg – philosopher
• Willy Brandt – chancellor
• Ephraim Carlebach – rabbi
• Felix Carlebach – rabbi
• Joseph Carlebach – rabbi
• Björn Engholm – politician
• Walter Ewers - flying ace
• Christian Friedrich Heinecken – child prodigy
• Godfrey Kneller – painter
• Heinrich Mann – novelist
• Thomas Mann – novelist
• John Rugee – politician
• Sandra Völker – swimmer
• Jörg Wontorra - sport journalist
• Dieterich Buxtehude – composer and organist

Parts[link]

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.

International relations[link]

Lübeck is twinned with:

Lubec, Maine, the easternmost town in the United States, is named after Lübeck.

See also[link]

• Cap Arcona
• Lübeck Airport
• Lübeck Hauptbahnhof
• Lübeck Nordic Film Days
• Lübeck law
• Lübeck Waste Treatment Facility
• Lübecker Nachrichten is Lübeck's only newspaper
• Oberschule zum Dom
• Ports of the Baltic Sea
• Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival
• VfB Lübeck, soccer and sports club

References[link]

External links[link]

Find more about Lübeck on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Definitions and translations from Wiktionary
	Images and media from Commons
	Learning resources from Wikiversity
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	Quotations from Wikiquote
	Source texts from Wikisource
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• Official website
• Lübeck information
• Lovebridge Lübeck

	Neumünster, Kiel		Baltic Sea
			Wismar, Rostock
		Lübeck    East
	Hamburg		Schwerin

v t e Members of the Hanseatic League by Quarter Chief cities are highlighted; Free Imperial Cities of the Holy Roman Empire are shown in italics. Wendish Quarter Lübeck Anklam · Demmin · Greifswald · Hamburg · Kolberg (Kołobrzeg) · Lüneburg · Rostock · Rügenwalde (Darłowo) · Stettin (Szczecin) · Stolp (Słupsk) · Stockholm · Stralsund · Visby · Wismar Saxon Quarter Brunswick Berlin · Bremen · Erfurt · Frankfurt an der Oder · Goslar · Magdeburg Baltic Quarter Danzig (Gdańsk) Breslau (Wrocław) · Dorpat (Tartu) · Elbing (Elbląg) · Königsberg (Kaliningrad) · Kraków · Reval (Tallinn) · Rīga · Thorn (Toruń) Westphalian Quarter Cologne* Dortmund* Deventer · Groningen · Kampen · Münster · Osnabrück · Soest Principal Kontore Bryggen (Bergen) · Hanzekantoor (Bruges, Antwerp†) · Steelyard (London) · Peterhof (Novgorod) Subsidiary Kontore Bishop's Lynn · Falsterbo · Ipswich · Kovno (Kaunas) · Malmö · Polotsk · Pskov Other cities Bristol · Boston · Damme · Leith · Herford · Hull · Newcastle · Stargard · Yarmouth · York * Cologne and Dortmund were both capital of the Westphalian Quarter at different times. † Antwerp gained importance once Bruges became inaccessible due to the silting of the Zwin channel.

v t e World Heritage Sites in Germany Northern Fagus Factory in Alfeld · Berlin Modernism Housing Estates · Museumsinsel (Museum Island), Berlin · Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin · Bremen: Town Hall and Roland on the Marketplace · Mines of Rammelsberg, Historic Town of Goslar and Upper Harz Water Management System · Hildesheim: St. Mary's Cathedral and St. Michael's Church · Hanseatic City of Lübeck · Historic Centres of Stralsund and Wismar · The Wadden Sea1 · Ancient Beech Forests2 Central Bauhaus and its Sites in Weimar and Dessau · Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz · Dresden Elbe Valley (delisted in 2009) · Luther Memorials in Eisleben and Wittenberg · Muskauer Park / Park Mużakowski3 · Collegiate Church, Castle, and Old Town of Quedlinburg · Wartburg Castle · Classical Weimar Western Aachen Cathedral · Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust at Brühl · Cologne Cathedral · Messel Pit Fossil Site · Upper Middle Rhine Valley · Speyer Cathedral · Trier: Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St. Peter and Church of Our Lady · Völklingen Ironworks · Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen Southern Abbey and Altenmünster of Lorsch · Town of Bamberg · Frontiers of the Roman Empire:4 Upper Germanic & Rhaetian Limes · Maulbronn Monastery Complex · Old Town of Regensburg with Stadtamhof · Monastic Island of Reichenau · Pilgrimage Church of Wies · Würzburg Residence with the Court Gardens and Residence Square  · Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps5 1 Shared with the Netherlands · 2 Shared with Slovakia and Ukraine  · 3 Shared with Poland · 4 Shared with the United Kingdom  · 5 Shared with Austria, France, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland

v t e Urban and rural districts in the state of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany Urban districts Flensburg Kiel Lübeck Neumünster Rural districts Dithmarschen Herzogtum Lauenburg Nordfriesland Ostholstein Pinneberg Plön Rendsburg-Eckernförde Schleswig-Flensburg Segeberg Steinburg Stormarn