Lübeck - Heiligen-Geist-Hospital

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.

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The "Heiligen Geist Hospital" (Holy Spirit Hospital) was established as a foundation in 1227. The building was completed in 1286 and is one of the oldest existing social institutions in the world. It is in the tradition of the Holy Spirit Hospitals modelled on Santo Spirito in Sassia in Rome. The hospital was cared for by the friars of the Order of the Holy Spirit.

The hospital, built in the brick Gothic style, resembles the Gothic part of the town hall with its pointed turrets.

The hospital owned many estates in and around Lübeck, the income from which was sufficient to care for the poor and sick.

The residents of the hospital were subject to a monastery-like rule, but they received food and, since the 17th century, a warm bath eight times a year.

In the 19th century the hospital was transformed into a "secular" old people's home, which has been preserved until today.