Hanseatic Gems of Northern Germany
The Hanseatic League was a commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and their market towns. Growing from a few North German towns in the late 1100s, the league came to dominate Baltic maritime trade for three centuries. The golden age left many beautiful buildings to the Northern Germany, most of them representing Brick Gothic style.
1. St. Peter's Church
Photo from Flickr, copyright steelecity
St. Peter"s Church in Hamburg stands on the site of many former cathedrals. It was probably built originally in 1189 and first documented in 1195. In about 1310, the cathedral was rebuilt in a Gothic style and was completed in approximately 1418. The bronze lion-head door handles, the oldest work of art of Hamburg, date from the foundation of the tower in 1342.
A second tower, built in 1516, towered above even the Hamburg Cathedral. Decay caused it to be torn down between 1804 and 1807, after it had been used by Napoleonic soldiers as a horse stable. The building fell victim to the great ...
2. Lübeck Cathedral
Lübeck Cathedral is a large brick-built Lutheran cathedral in Lübeck, Germany and part of the Lübeck UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 1173 Henry the Lion founded the cathedral to serve the Diocese of Lübeck, after the transfer in 1160 of the bishop's seat from Oldenburg in Holstein under bishop Gerold. The then Romanesque cathedral was completed around 1230, but between 1266 and 1335 it was converted into a Gothic-style building with side-aisles raised to the same height as the main aisle.
On the night of Palm Sunday (28–29 March) 1942 a Royal Air Force bombing raid destroyed a fifth of t ...
3. Neuer Markt
Photo from Flickr, copyright TOTORORO.RORO
One of the most picturesque places in Rostock is the Neuer Markt (New Market Square), with the Town Hall - that was originally built in the 13th century in Brick Gothic style, but extensively transformed in the 18th century, with the addition of a Baroque façade and a banqueting hall. The square also preserved six original, carefully restored gable houses from the 15th and 16th centuries. The other historical houses in Hanseatic style that once bordered the square were destroyed in an Allied air-raid in 1942, and rebuilt in a simplified manner.
4. Hanseatic City of Lübeck
Photo from Flickr, copyright Daniel Mennerich
Founded in 1143 on the Baltic coast of northern Germany, Lübeck was from 1230 to 1535 one of the principal cities of the Hanseatic League, a league of merchant cities which came to hold a monopoly over the trade of the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. The plan of the Old Town island of Lübeck, with its blade-like outline determined by two parallel routes of traffic running along the crest of the island, dates back to the beginnings of the city and attests to its expansion as a commercial centre of Northern Europe. To the west, the richest quarters with the trading houses and the homes of the ri ...
5. Holstentor
Photo from Flickr, copyright michael_hamburg69
Holstentor (Holsten Gate) is the most well-know symbol of Lübeck. The city gate was built between 1464 and 1478 along the lines of Dutch models. Its purpose served both as a form of defence and as a form of prestige. Above the round-arched gateway entrance of the twin-towered construction, the inscription CONCORDIA DOMI FORIS PAX (unity at home, peace abroad) can clearly be seen in golden letters.
Nearly every visitor is astonished by its odd leaning angle and its sunken south tower. But, during the 15th century people weren"t quite as knowledgeable on 'foundation work' as they are today ...
6. Historic Centre of Stralsund
Photo from Flickr, copyright Kretzsche93
The medieval towns of Wismar and Stralsund were major trading centres of the Hanseatic League in the 14th and 15th centuries. In the 17th and 18th centuries they became Swedish administrative and defensive centres for the German territories. They contributed to the development of the characteristic building types and techniques of Brick Gothic in the Baltic region, as exemplified in several important brick cathedrals, the Town Hall of Stralsund, and the series of houses for residential, commercial and crafts use, representing its evolution over several centuries. Due the valuable remnants of t ...
7. Bremen Town Hall and Roland Statue
Photo from Flickr, copyright Tony Shertila
Bremen Town hall was built between 1405 and 1410 and the Weser Renaissance facade added in the 17th century. The Town Hall and the statue of Roland on the marketplace are outstanding representations of civic autonomy and sovereignty, as these developed in the Holy Roman Empire in Europe. The old town hall was built in the Gothic style in the early 15th century, after Bremen joined the Hanseatic League. The building was renovated in the so-called Weser Renaissance style in the early 17th century. A new town hall was built next to the old one in the early 20th century as part of an ensemble that ...
8. Historic Centre of Wismar
Wismar is a unique representative of the Hanseatic League city type, with its Brick Gothic constructions and many patrician gable houses. It has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 2002, together with the historical core of Stralsund.
Wismar has preserved its medieval harbour basin, whereas the island location of Stralsund has remained unchanged since the 13th century. To this day the unmistakable silhouette of Stralsund is characterized by the outstanding buildings of Brick Gothic architecture. The town of Wismar was originally surrounded by moats, but these were fill ...