Lübeck - Dom

The area around Lübeck, today a large city with a population of more than 200,000, had been settled by Slavs since the 7th century. Slavs had a settlement north of the present city called "Liubice", which was razed by the pagan Rani tribe in 1128.

15 years later Adolf II, Count of Schauenburg and Holstein, founded the modern town as a German settlement on the river island of Bucu. He built a new castle, first mentioned as existing in 1147. Adolf II had to cede the castle to the Duke of Saxony, Henry the Lion, in 1158. After Henry's fall from power in 1181, the town became an Imperial city. Emperor Barbarossa ordained that the city should have a ruling council of 20 members. With the council dominated by merchants, trade interests shaped Lübeck's politics for centuries.

In the 14th century, Lübeck became the "Queen of the Hanseatic League", being by far the largest and most powerful member of that medieval 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.

Conflicts about trading privileges resulted in fighting between Lübeck (with the Hanseatic League) and Denmark and Norway – with varying outcome. While Lübeck and the Hanseatic League prevailed in conflicts in 1435 and 1512, Lübeck lost when it became involved in a civil war that raged in Denmark from 1534 to 1536. From then on Lübeck's power slowly declined. The city remained neutral in the Thirty Years' War, but the devastation from the decades-long war and the new transatlantic orientation of European trade caused the Hanseatic League – and thus Lübeck with it – to decline in importance. However, Lübeck still remained an important trading town on the Baltic Sea.

The "Dom zu Lübeck" (Lübeck Cathedral) is around 130 meters long, one of the longest brick churches. In 1173, Henry the Lion laid the foundation stone of the cathedral as a cathedral for the bishopric of Lübeck.

The then Romanesque cathedral was completed in about 1230 and rebuilt into a Gothic hall church between 1266 and 1335. At the same time the lengthening of the structure was done by erecting the pure Gothic east choir, completed in 1341 The length of the cathedral was doubled.

Until the Reformation, the cathedral chapter was under the control of the bishop. After the Reformation, the cathedral became the joint property of the city and the cathedral chapter until 1803, when it became the sole property of the city with the dissolution of the cathedral chapter. The adjoining monastery became the site of the Museum am Dom at the end of the 19th century.

After the heavy air raid on Lübeck on March 28-29, 1942, the eastern vault in the high choir collapsed, destroying the high altar from 1696. The fire in the neighbouring cathedral museum spread to the cathedral's roof truss. The next day the spires of the tower collapsed. As a result of the war, the unsecured gable of the northern transept collapsed in 1946.

Reconstruction took several decades, as priorities here tended to be the rebuilding of Lübeck's Marienkirche. The reconstruction was finally completed in 1982.

The "Marienaltar mit der Einhornjagd" ("Marian Altar with the Unicorn Hunt") from 1506 was the donation of Johannes Parchem, a vicar of the cathedral. Mary holds the golden unicorn on her lap. On the top right are the Magi.

The depiction of a unicorn in Mary's lap is an allegory of the virginity of Mary. As it was "known" in the Middle Ages that unicorns have great confidence in virgins, this was a popular image.