Lübeck Travel Guide

Lübeck's Holstentor gate is one of the best known German buildings worldwide. Built in 1464, from its beginnings the Holstentor served both Lübeck's defence and its prestige - a massive double-towered city gate. Above the round-arched gateway entrance is the Latin inscription in golden letters: CONCORDIA DOMI FORIS PAX (unity at home and peace abroad). The monument as we see it today is the result of considerable restoration work: in the mid 19th century it was more or less a ruin. In 1863, with a majority of just one single vote, the city parliament decided to restore the gate and began restoration efforts, the last of which were carried out from 2004-2006.

Inside this historic monument the Holstentor Museum puts the history of Lübeck's hanseatic trade links, its power and its wealth on display. Exhibits such as historical ship models, suits of armor, weapons, legal instruments, and articles of merchandize offer many exciting discoveries to the visitors. The exhibition "The Power of Trade" - Die Macht des Handels - thus illustrates the success story with which the merchants of medieval Lübeck put their city firmly on the international map.

Lübeck's Old Town is the first Old Town in Germany ever officially declared a UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site. It is the former capital and Queen City of the Hanseatic League* and was founded in the 12th century and prospered until the 16th century as the major trading center for northern Europe. It has remained a center for maritime commerce to this day, particularly with the Nordic countries. Despite the damage it suffered during the Second World War, the basic structure of the old city, consisting mainly of 15th- and 16th-century patrician residences, public monuments (the famous Holstentor brick gate), churches and salt storehouses, remains unaltered.

*The Hanseatic League (also known as the Hanse or Hansa) was an alliance of trading cities and their guilds that established and maintained a trade monopoly along the coast of Northern Europe, from the Baltic to the North Sea and inland, during the Late Middle Ages and early modern period (c.13th–17th centuries). The Hanseatic cities had their own law system and furnished their own protection and mutual aid.

The Buddenbrooks House, which provides the setting for Thomas Mann's famous novel, now contains a museum that has served as a tribute to the Mann family's literary legacy since 1993. Based in Lübeck's old town, the permanent exhibition – comprising letters, commentaries and first editions – gives an insight into the life and work of the writers Thomas and Heinrich Mann. Also on display are photos and other contemporary documents, including Thomas Mann's certificate for winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929. The centre regularly hosts special exhibitions focusing on the various members of the Mann family as well as other 20th century writers. Events held in original settings across the town really help bring the novels to life.

Hours: January - March: Tuesday - Sunday: 11am - 5pm. April - December: Tuesday - Sunday 10am - 5pm.

Admission: Adults 5 €, Concessions 2 €, Children under 6 years free.

The Günter Grass Museum presents the work of the famous author - winner of the Nobel Prize for literature - who is also a draughtsman, sculptor and illustrator of his own books. The collection contains more than 1100 drawings, etchings, lithographs, water colours and manuscripts. Particularly attractive is the small courtyard and sculpture garden (opened in 2007). The permanent exhibition traces the processes which shaped such books as the well-known Tin Drum, My Century and Crabwalk. The museum houses a small library and an art shop. There are regular lectures, symposiums and readings, and there have also been exhibitions on the works of other creative geniuses who, like Grass, worked in more than one creative field such as Goethe, Hermann Hesse or Wilhelm Busch.

Hours: January - March: Tuesday-Sunday 11am - 5pm. April - December: daily 10am - 5pm.

Admission: Adults 5 €, Concessions 2 €, Children under 6 years free.

The museum is located in a former Augustinian convent from the early 16th century and is host to Germany's most significant collection of ecclesiastical art and late-medieval carved altarpieces of German origin. The collection is completed by sacral works of Dutch painting from the 15th and 16th centuries, the outstanding example of which is the famed Passion Altar sculpted by Hans Memling in 1491. The department also displays an exquisite collection of liturgical garments and tools from the Middle Ages.

On the first floor the visitor finds an exhibition of home décor. The museum shows in several differently furnished rooms how the citizens of the Hanseatic city lived during the centuries from the Middle Ages until around 1800. Antique furniture of exquisite quality, showpieces of glasses and magnificent silver, porcelain and faience are reminders of the wealth and the taste of the citizens of Lübeck. The museum also houses an exhibition of toys.

Lip-smacking delights await at Lübeck's Marzipan Land. Don't worry if you haven't got a sweet tooth though – there's lots to learn about the history of marzipan, how it's made and the many different styles and flavors. Art lovers won't be alone in marveling at a marzipan reproduction of Da Vinci's Last Supper. It measures 20m² and weighs in at one and a half tons. There's also a marzipan violin that can actually be played, complete with edible sheet music! A dress consisting of 25,000 marzipan sweets has even made it into the Guinness Book of Records. There's not much here that isn't marzipan – brightly colored frogs, red and white lighthouses, succulent-looking shrimps, German sausages and a mediterranean fruit cart packed with lemons, oranges, strawberries and melons. Visitors are also welcome to create their own marzipan models. Open daily 10am - 6pm with free admission.

Theater puppets take center stage in this museum in Lübeck's old town. The collection, which is drawn from three centuries and covers an area of 600m², includes hand puppets, marionettes, rod puppets, shadow puppets and ventriloquist's dummies. It also showcases numerous other puppets from Europe, Asia and Africa. Posters, leaflets, entrance tickets, trading licences of established families of players, complete stages, scenery, props, tools – everything and anything to do with the enchanting world of puppet theater is on display here. The museum is also home to an extensive collection of organs, musical instruments and street ballad display panels. Next door is the Lübeck Marionette Theater with a program that rotates on a daily basis.

Hours: November - March: Tuesday - Sunday: 11am - 5pm. April - October: Monday - Sunday: 11 am - 6pm.

The Museum of Ethnology, part of the Museum of Art and Cultural History, has been located in the 16th century armoury next to Lübeck Cathedral since 1984. Its 30,000+ exhibits, gathered from every corner of the globe, range from religious objects and artworks to simple everyday items. The museum chronicles the past and present lives of people from outside Europe – with a focus on the Near and Middle East, East Asia, Africa, Central and South America and the South Pacific. A highlight of the collection is the Lübeck Apothecary Mummy, a relic from ancient Egypt. The opulence of its amulet jewellery, which is still present under the bandages, is unparalleled in a museum of this kind.

Hours: Tuesday - Friday 9am - 5pm, Saturdays and Sunday 10am - 5pm.

Admission: Adults 5 €, Concessions 2 €, Children under 6 years free.