Lübeck

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The title of this article contains the character ü. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Luebeck.

Lübeck
Holstentor
Coordinates:	53° 52′ N, 10° 41′ E
Time zone:	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Administration
Country:	Germany
State:	Schleswig-Holstein
District:	Urban district
City subdivisions:	35 Stadtbezirken
Mayor:	Bernd Saxe (SPD)
Governing party:	CDU
Basic Statistics
Area:	214.13 km² (83 sq.mi.)
Population:	213,983 (31 Dec. 2005)
- Density:	999 /km² (2,588 /sq.mi.)
Elevation:	13 m  (43 ft)
Further Information
Postal codes:	23501 − 23570
Area codes:	0451, 04502
Licence plate code:	HL
Website:	www.luebeck.de

Hanseatic City of Lübeck^a
UNESCO World Heritage Site

State Party	Germany
Type	Cultural
Criteria	iv
Identification	#272
Regionb	Europe and North America
Inscription History
Formal Inscription:	1987 11th Session
a Name as officially inscribed on the WH List b As classified officially by UNESCO

Lübeck ( pronunc., population (2005): 213,983) is the second largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern 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 on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites.

Lübeck is situated at the Trave river with the largest German port at the Baltic Sea. The old part of the town is an island enclosed by the Trave river. The Elbe-Lübeck Canal connects the Trave with the Elbe river. Another important river near the town center is the Wakenitz. Autobahn 1 connects Lübeck with Hamburg and Denmark. The borough Travemünde is a sea resort and ferry port at the coast of the Baltic Sea.

Contents 1 History 2 Main sights 2.1 Buildings 2.2 Museums 3 Miscellaneous 4 Notable people born in Lübeck 5 Parts 6 Twinnings 7 See also 8 External links

[edit] History

See also Free City of Lübeck

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

In addition, around 700 AD Slavic peoples started to come into in the Eastern parts of Holstein which had been left by many Germanic inhabitants in course of the Migration Period. By early 9th century Charlemagne, whose Christianisation attempts were opposed by Saxons, moved Saxons out and brought in Abodrite (Obotrite), who were allied to Charlemagne, in their stead. Among other settlements they founded Reric and Liubice ("lovely") on the Trave banks about 6 kilometres north of the present-day city centre of Lübeck. In the 10th century it became the most important settlement of the Obotrites and a castle was built. The settlement was burned down in 1128 by heathen Slavic people from Rügen.

The modern town was founded by Adolf II, Count of Schauenburg and Holstein, in 1143 as a German settlement on a peninsula. 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 in 1181, the town became an Imperial city for eight years. Emperor Barbarossa gave the city a ruling council with twenty members that survived into the 19th century. This council was dominated by merchants and caused Lübeck's politics to be dominated by trade interests for centuries to come.

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

Around 1200 the port became the main point of departure for colonists leaving for the Baltic territories conquered by the Teutonic Order. In 1226 Emperor Frederick II elevated the town to an Imperial Free City, becoming 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 defeat in Count's Feud, Lübeck's power slowly declined. Lübeck 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. After the Hanseatic League was de facto disbanded in 1669, Lübeck remained an important trading town on the Baltic Sea.

The great composer, Dieterich_Buxtehude became organist at the Marienkirche in Lübeck in 1668 and remained at the post until at least 1703.

In course of the war of the Fourth Coalition against Napoleon, troops under Bernadotte occupied the neutral Lübeck after a battle against Blücher on November 6th, 1806. Under the Continental System, trade suffered and from 1811 to 1813 Lübeck was formally annexed as part of France until the Vienna Congress of 1815.

During World War II, Lübeck was the first German city to be attacked 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. Near the end of the war one of the biggest disasters in naval history happened in the Bay of Lübeck when Allied bombers sank three ships which, unknown to them, were packed with concentration camp inmates presumably being transported to an execution site. About 7,000 people were killed. Lübeck was occupied without resistance by the British Army following Germany's surrender.

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 was situated directly at the inner German border during the division of Germany into two rival 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 in many parts. The northernmost border crossing was in Lübeck's district of Schlutup.

Lübeck's restored historic city centre became an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

[edit] Main sights

[edit] Buildings

The entire old town has kept a medieval look with old buildings and narrow streets. The town once could only be entered by passing one of four town gates, of which two remain today, the well-known Holstentor (1478) and the Burgtor (1444).

The old town centre is dominated by seven church steeples. The oldest ones 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. Lawrence, located on the site of a cemetery of people dead during the 16th century plague.
• Church of St. Jacob (Lübecker Jakobikirche, 1334).
• the Salzspeicher, historic warehouses where salt delivered from Lüneburg awaited shipment to Baltic ports.

[edit] Museums

Lübeck has many smaller museums like the St. Annen Museum, the Behnhaus and the Holstentor. One waterside attraction is a lightvessel that served Fahrmarnbelt.

[edit] Miscellaneous

Lübeck is very famous for its excellent marzipan industry, and according to local legend, Marzipan was first made in Lübeck possibly in response to either a military siege of the city, or a famine year. The story, perhaps apocryphal, is that the town ran out of all foods except stored almonds and sugar, and used these 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.

In the quarter Lübeck-Herrenwyk there is the static inverter plant of the HVDC Baltic-Cable.

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

[edit] Notable people born in Lübeck

• Willy Brandt – chancellor
• Thomas Mann – writer
• Hans Blumenberg – philosopher
• Sandra Völker – swimmer
• Christian Bartolf – writer

[edit] Parts

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

[edit] Twinnings

• Kotka, Finland, since 1969
• Wismar, Germany, since 1987
• La Rochelle, France, since 1988
• Klaipėda, Lithuania, since 1990
• Milwaukee, United States, since 1990
• Visby, Sweden, since 1999
• Venice, Italy, since 1979
• Kawasaki (Kanagawa), Japan, since 1992
• Bergen, Norway, since 1996

[edit] See also

• Free City of Lübeck
• Lübeck Airport
• Lübeck Museum of Theatre Puppets
• Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival
• Nordische Filmtage
• Lübeck laws
• Ports of the Baltic Sea
• Baltic-Cable
• Bay of Lübeck
• SS Cap Arcona
• University of Lübeck, International School of New Media, Musikhochschule Lübeck and Fachhochschule Lübeck
• Oflag X-C

[edit] External links

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  Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

  Lübeck
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	Urban and rural districts in the Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany
Urban districts	Flensburg | Kiel | Lübeck | Neumünster
Rural districts	Dithmarschen | Lauenburg | Nordfriesland | Ostholstein | Pinneberg | Plön | Rendsburg-Eckernförde Schleswig-Flensburg | Segeberg | Steinburg | Stormarn