Lübeck, Germany is an amazing medieval town with lots to see and incredible architecture and streets to explore. An earlier post shares all these sights and places to explore. In this post, I share how to see Lübeck from up high. The vantage point offered by going up the tower of St. Peter’s Church (St. Petri Kirche) near the Holstentor Gate is probably best as it is almost at the center of the island where the heart of the city lies.
How to see Lübeck – first an aerial view
This aerial photo of the old town shows a couple of the places that will be mentioned – note the location of St. Peter (“St. Petri Kirche” on the map).
Looking west from St. Peter’s Church
The Holstentor Gate (shown on the map above) is the symbol of Lübeck and, short of being near it on the ground, this is the best way to appreciate it. It lies due west of St. Peter’s, a very short walk.
Holtenstor Gate flanked on the left by the Salzspeicher warehouses
Close-up of Holstentor Gate
Salzspeicher warehouses on the Trave River in Lubeck
Looking north
Looking immediately down on the north-facing side of the viewing area, you look down on Holstenstrasse, the shopping avenue that leads to the Holstentor gate. On the top right corner, you see a bit of Marienkirche (which you can see on the map above).
Then looking up still facing north, there is Marienkirche, still being worked on as it is repaired from war damage. Amazing.
Looking east
Looking east, you see St. Aegidien Church and lots of green in the background. St. Aegidien’s Church honors an abbot born in the 7th century in Athens, Greece who lived most of his life in south France. The history of a church on that site dates back from the 13th century and the church has mostly survived the ravages of war…
St. Aegidien Church
Looking northeast
Looking sort of to the northeast from St. Peter’s, one sees the historical main square and market area. On the left with a low white facade and a brick structure behind it with copper/green towers are city government offices. Towards the centre of the buildings on the market is the Niederegger Café where we enjoyed a glass of wine and a deliciously decadent cake made of marzipan. Mmm!!
Tip: Go through the arcade to the street behind and you will find a Niederigger store where your eyes will pop at all the amazing ways they can craft marzipan and make great sweets…
The main square with government offices and markets
Looking south
Looking south you see on the right the Trave River and to the left the Cathedral (Dom) of Lübeck. The cathedral suffered bombing and fire in World War II and, though some of the contents survived, it required major reconstruction that only got completed in 1982 as priority was given to re-building Marienkirche. An odd fact is that, although it is a cathedral, it is not the tallest church in town due to “competition” (or, political battles more likely) between religious authorities and guilds (which helped support their churches).
And, finally, looking southeast
The view below shows, from above, a typical street lined up with beautiful architecture. There are quite a few streets like this on the east side and south side of the town. I could have kept on walking admiring the facades of these beautiful buildings. The street seen in the center of the photo is Mühlenstrasse (look at the map at the top of this post where this street shows towards the bottom middle, and then look up on the right of the photo to see how many such side streets there are!).
You can see, I am certain, why I enjoy going up high in any town I visit so much. Seeing it from up high gives you perspective and a sense of the lay of the land that a map just doesn’t do justice to. Be it Bologna, Sydney, Berlin, Chicago or Lübeck, it is always worth the climb (or elevator ride where available!).
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Beautiful architecture 🙂