Lübeck City Guide
Lübeck in Northern Germany has a rich history, and as such is bursting with things to see and explore, from the literary – Buddenbrook House; to the culinary - Café Niederegger; to the spiritual - Lübeck Cathedral. There’s something for everyone in Lübeck.
What to do and see in and around Lübeck
Buddenbrook House
This pretty house is dedicated to two of Lübeck’s famous sons, Heinrich and Thomas Mann, and was the setting for Thomas Mann’s Nobel Prize winning novel "Buddenbrooks". The Buddenbrook House was in fact the former house of the Mann family and was developed into a museum for the Lübeck Expo in 2000.
Willy-Brandt-House Lübeck
A legend in his life time and after his death, Willy Brandt, the former chancellor of West Germany and Nobel Peace Prize winner, is honoured by a fascinating museum housed in Lübeck, where he was born in 1913.
St. Anne's Museum
This diverse museum, housed in a former 16th century Augustinian convent, contains an outstanding collection of sacred works such as the 15th century Passion Altar by Hans Memling, as well as a fascinating collection of medieval tools. The first floor of the museum explores the way in which Lübeck inhabitants lived from the Middle Ages until the 19th century - this includes an enviable collection of exquisite antique furniture.
Castle Gate
Dating back to the 1200s in part, Lübeck’s Castle Gate is one of the great relics of medieval Lübeck. The gate has evolved over the centuries with the addition of the red and black tower in the Middle Ages and the bronze dome in the early 17th century.
Café Niederegger
For all those with a sweet tooth, welcome to Marzipan Paradise, also known as Café Niederegger! This 200 year old Lübeck institution boasts the finest marzipan in Lübeck, and a visit to the marzipan museum on the second floor is recommended for the life-size personalities made from marzipan alone. Then there’s the shop…
Hospital of the Holy Spirit
This attractive red-bricked building with its pretty vaulted interior is said to be one of the oldest social institutions in Europe. It has served as a hospital, almshouse and is currently (in part) a retirement home. The chambers and the church hall provide the atmospheric setting for Lübeck’s Christmas Market.
St Mary’s Church
This massive Gothic church is the third-largest in Germany and it is easy to see how it took around a century to build. This vast building is also the perfect place to house the largest mechanical organ in the world.
Lübeck Cathedral
This Romanesque Cathedral dates back as far as the 12th century when it was built under the orders of Henry the Lion on the site of a former wooden church. The distinctive cathedral was heavily bombed during the Second World War but was rebuilt during the 1960s. It is now the home to artworks such as the lofty 15th century Triumphal Cross by Bernt Notke. Visitors will also be able to enjoy the 17th century astronomical clock, by which it is still possible to tell the time.
Culture Forum Castle Monastery
Dating back to the 13th century, the castle monastery has witnessed many dramatic and tragic events over the years and has seen service as a poorhouse, a courthouse and a remand prison. In recent history it was used as a prison by the Nazi’s imprisoning Jews and those involved in the resistance labour movement. It has since been restored and is now used as a place to discover arts, architecture and history.
Drägerhaus / Behnhaus
Also known as the home of Lübeck’s 18th-19th century art collection, these two 18th century former merchants’ houses stand side by side and are the guardians of works by Caspar David Friedrich, Max Liebermann and Edvard Munch.
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