My Sunday morning began from a meeting with the Lübeck’s cheerful Devil:
The story goes, when they started building the St. Mary’s Church in the 13th century, the devil popped into the building site and asked what was afoot. The workers were terrified to tell the truth, and lied it was going to be a tavern with lots of wine. The devil liked the idea, because many souls had already found their way to him after frequently visiting such places, and he even helped with the construction.
When the cathedral was nearly finished, the devil realized it wasn’t going to be a wine-heaven. In his rage, he picked up a large slab to destroy the church, when one of the workers stopped him by promising to build a really nice tavern nearby. The devil calmed down, dropped the slab, and agreed that was fair enough.
The slab still remains at that spot. It has scratches on it that are meant to be the devil’s claw marks. To honor the legend, a bronze statue of the devil depicted by Rolf Goerler was placed on the slab in 1999. He looks delighted because the people of Lübeck kept their word. To this day, you can go for a drink in the Ratskeller, the Town Hall’s wine cellar, next to the St. Mary’s Church!
It was a cold morning. During the night, the air temperature was zero. Not many people were out for a stroll yet. I enjoyed the almost empty streets of Lübeck’s downtown – I love experiencing big cities and small towns on early mornings. It is normally very peaceful, and one can better see the architecture.
Handles on one of the doors of the St Mary’s Church:
I got to the pedestrian street in front of the City Hall. A musician played violin there; I sat down on a bench and listened. He was professional, played very well, and without long breaks. I had an impression he took it very seriously – and many, inclusive myself, appreciated it with their contributions.
One of the facades of the Town Hall, the oldest parts of which are dating back to 1230-1240. It served as a model for many town halls in other Hanseatic cities in the Baltic:
Beautiful wooden oriel on one of the walls:
I wanted to explore the famous hidden courtyards of the Lübeck’s Altstadt – there are around 90 of them in the old town. You normally spot them behind narrow passages leading to small gardens that every so often look like paradise:
Sometimes they were so low and narrow, and I wondered whether a grown-up man could go through?
One can walk around Lübeck for days – there are so many exciting things to discover!
One of the houses attracted my attention, and I came closer. The plate in the middle was in German, saying something about Gloxin-stift. I later learned that the house had relation to David Gloxin (1597-1671), who was the major and diplomat of Lübeck, and did lots of good things for its citizens. The Gloxin’s coat of the arms was placed over the entrance to the house:
Another interesting house, divided in 2 by painting (and most likely owners):
I eventually reached the Burgtor on the northernmost part of the old town, the northern city gate of Hanseatic Lübeck. On the left side of it, in the 13th century, there was stable for horses of the council. A courtyard wing was built 400-500 hundreds years later, and served as a prison:
In Lübeck, one can often see scale models of the constructions once existed in Lübeck. I found that way of bringing history up fascinating – you could see how it looked like, read about its function, and imagine how the life was at that time:
From the grounds of the European Hansemuseum nearby the views were spectacular:
Sculpture of Mary Magdalene by Kiki Smith in the Castle Friary’ yard (St. Mary Magdalene monastery, one of the most important monastery complexes in Northern Germany):
Text from the plate explained, in the Christian iconography of the Middle Ages St. Mary Magdalene was mostly depicted as penitent sinner. The sculpture presented her naked, with her gaze directed proudly upwards, and a broken iron chain on her ankle.
The figure of Mary Magdalene also played a vital role in the foundation of the Castle Friary, better known as the Burgkloster. According to a legend, thanks to this Saint the people of Lübeck were finally able to free themselves from the supremacy of the King Waldemar II of Denmark in the battle of Bornhöved in1227. A church and a convent were built in Lübeck in honour of St. Mary Magdalene.
Then there was also street art! The thing I noticed first was the “Nokia” sign, and I thought – when was the last time I heard of Nokia? That’s relatively many years ago! So I stopped and read about the smartphone services, and only after that noticed how nicely the tech boxes below were painted:
I took a bus back to the airport (not the usual train – wanted to try something new). Pre-flight check, and I was ready for departure:
I couldn’t resist doing a couple of rounds over the old town of Lübeck – “the city of the 7 spires”:
My time spent there was so precious! Nice autumn weather, tasty food, good sleep, art, culture, history, relaxation… I was filled up with good impressions and renewed energy.
Sunset near Holbæk, my home airfield:
I landed during the civil twilight. The night was approaching quickly…
When I left one hour later, it was completely dark. The stars began appearing on the night sky, and the moon was hanging very low at the horizon:
