Lübeck
Lübeck still prides itself on its ancient title, "Queen of the Hanseatic League." The Hanse were mediaeval merchants from what was then but the geographical area of "Germany" who established a trading network that reached from London in the west to Novogorod in the east, from Bergen in the north to Amsterdam in the south. We have visited several other former Hanseatic towns on this voyage including Reval (now Tallinn) and Danzig (now Gdansk), Stockhom and Riga and the splendid walled city of Visby on the centrally located Baltic island of Gotland, the latter city an impressive rival to Lübeck. The hub of the network, however, was here in Lübeck, a city with a remarkable location, defended by a moat. We viewed the city from the water today both by motor launch and in our own Zodiacs passing a replica of a Hanseatic cog, the Lisa von Lübeck (photo), the container vessel of its day.
Trade continues to flourish. Timber from the north - today used for Hamburg's publishing houses - salt and preserved fish exported in exchange for such exotic produce as the Mediterranean almonds that for generations have been turned into delicious marzipan confectionery by the Niederegger family. Today, Lubeck is Europe's principal export port to the Russaian Federation. In addition to trade, there was a religious element to Hanseatic culture. The Teutonic Knights brought Christianity to northern Europe even as orthodox missionaries arrived in Russia. The "seven towers of Lübeck" embody that Christianity architecturally in churches lovingly restored after the ravages of World War II. The power of the church was kept subsidiary to trade: the bishop resided beyond the confines of the city and his writ did not run large there. Even those lofty church towers were constructed as much as a practical aid to navigation as to the glory of God. The cultural achievement was nevertheless splendid. In the afternoon some of us viewed the triumphal Crucifix in Lübeck Cathedral (Dom), carved in wood by Bernt Notke in 1477, and Hans Memling's carved altarpiece of the same period, now in the St Annen Art Gallery, both miraculous survivals from mediaeval times.
The Holsten Gate that guards the southern entrance to the city bears the words Concordia Domi, Foris Pax (Harmony at home, peace beyond). The words summarize the philosophy of the Hanseatic League that endured from the twelfth to the sixteenth century but transfer well to today's European Union, an organization also started out as an economic union but for which peaceful coexistence after a troubled century was a paramount objective.
Lübeck still prides itself on its ancient title, "Queen of the Hanseatic League." The Hanse were mediaeval merchants from what was then but the geographical area of "Germany" who established a trading network that reached from London in the west to Novogorod in the east, from Bergen in the north to Amsterdam in the south. We have visited several other former Hanseatic towns on this voyage including Reval (now Tallinn) and Danzig (now Gdansk), Stockhom and Riga and the splendid walled city of Visby on the centrally located Baltic island of Gotland, the latter city an impressive rival to Lübeck. The hub of the network, however, was here in Lübeck, a city with a remarkable location, defended by a moat. We viewed the city from the water today both by motor launch and in our own Zodiacs passing a replica of a Hanseatic cog, the Lisa von Lübeck (photo), the container vessel of its day.
Trade continues to flourish. Timber from the north - today used for Hamburg's publishing houses - salt and preserved fish exported in exchange for such exotic produce as the Mediterranean almonds that for generations have been turned into delicious marzipan confectionery by the Niederegger family. Today, Lubeck is Europe's principal export port to the Russaian Federation. In addition to trade, there was a religious element to Hanseatic culture. The Teutonic Knights brought Christianity to northern Europe even as orthodox missionaries arrived in Russia. The "seven towers of Lübeck" embody that Christianity architecturally in churches lovingly restored after the ravages of World War II. The power of the church was kept subsidiary to trade: the bishop resided beyond the confines of the city and his writ did not run large there. Even those lofty church towers were constructed as much as a practical aid to navigation as to the glory of God. The cultural achievement was nevertheless splendid. In the afternoon some of us viewed the triumphal Crucifix in Lübeck Cathedral (Dom), carved in wood by Bernt Notke in 1477, and Hans Memling's carved altarpiece of the same period, now in the St Annen Art Gallery, both miraculous survivals from mediaeval times.
The Holsten Gate that guards the southern entrance to the city bears the words Concordia Domi, Foris Pax (Harmony at home, peace beyond). The words summarize the philosophy of the Hanseatic League that endured from the twelfth to the sixteenth century but transfer well to today's European Union, an organization also started out as an economic union but for which peaceful coexistence after a troubled century was a paramount objective.
