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Home » Supplement » Germany

Strolling around medieval German port city

By Yao Minji | September 28, 2015, Monday | Print Edition

European towns are among my favorite holiday destinations largely because they are pretty much the exact opposite of Shanghai. Most of them have a tranquil atmosphere, people live a chilled lifestyle, there are all kinds of small and grand churches and few skyscrapers.

I have often wondered what Lubeck looks like as the city was a major source of Thomas Mann’s inspiration for his first novel “Buddenbrooks” even though it’s never mentioned by name. The story chronicles the fall of the Buddenbrook family through more than four generations and is said to be based on his own family in Lubeck.

Easily accessible via train from Hamburg, Lubeck is a quintessential German port town on the Baltic Sea with buildings dating back to the 13th century. These brick Gothic structures have earned the city a spot on UNESCO’s Cultural Heritage list. They give the city a medieval look to it that makes for a nice stop when traveling around the country and you want a break from the bigger cities like Berlin, Munich or Hamburg.

Many tourists may have already seen the Gothic Holstentor, or Holsten Gate, two round castle-like towers with spires and arched entrance. The imposing structure is plastered all over postcards, souvenirs and stamps.

The Latin words “... Concordia domi foris pax,” are inscribed on the gate, meaning “... harmony within, peace without,” an idea fundamentally rooted in the city’s merchant traditions. It is the only gate left from the wealthy trade city’s medieval fortifications that once included several gates to protect its inhabitants.

This mercantile tradition makes me think of Shanghai and its history of talented merchants and traders who have often been one or two steps ahead of the competition.

Holstentor now houses a museum inside to illustrate the city’s history. Highlights include models of ships to highlight its significance as a trading city and the former capital of the free cities of the Hanseatic League in medieval times.

During the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, Holstentor was almost demolished as it was considered unnecessary and blocking progress. A controversy raged for years in town with opinion split between those who wanted to keep it and those who wanted it torn down. Those voting to keep it won by a single vote.

A cab driver told me the city looks like a fish bone if looking at it from above. I quickly understood what he meant when I walked from the gate into the merchants’ quarter along the Trave River, where wealthy merchants once lived in red brick houses with backyard gardens.

Countless narrow lanes and paths extend from the main walkway like fish bones into the small old town, and I couldn’t resist the seduction of the colorful shop logos and diverse styles of houses.

Lubeck started as a small island built along the river. Canals were built on all sides for defense purposes.

Marienkirche, or St Mary’s Church, is another Gothic masterpiece that has been a long-time symbol of the city and its prosperity. It has set the standard for many surrounding churches in the region.

The cathedral’s big claim to fame is its vaulted ceiling, the tallest brick vault in the world at 38.5 meters. It’s also the tallest spot in the old town.

Built between the late 13th and early 14th centuries, it was almost completely destroyed in an air raid in 1942 during World War II. The damage was later restored. The old town features mostly low-rise buildings so all seven church towers stand out.

The Town Hall, not far from St Mary’s, best exemplifies how major architectural and art styles in Europe mix in an ancient town. The pointy Gothic arch and flying buttress and the fluid and jocular Rococo colors and curves join forces to produce a look that is both traditional and contemporary at the same time.

Lubeck is also famous for its marzipan. Niederegger is one of the city’s top marzipan brands and has a shop just behind the Town Hall.

Author Mann once made light of people attempting to insult him by referring to him as a baker.

“If some ill-wisher can think of nothing else, he invariably thinks of connecting me with comic marzipan and representing me as a marzipan baker,” Mann said in his keynote speech at a grand anniversary for the city in 1926. “I certainly do not feel in the least insulted about the marzipan.”

The Nobel Prize winner then called it “a very tasty confection“ and “anything but trivial” and described the sweet delight as “remarkable and mysterious.”

The city has built a museum in honor of Mann and his older brother Heinrich, also a writer. Former West German Chancellor Willy Brandt was born in Lubeck, and the city has also built a museum as a tribute to the 1971 Nobel Peace Prize winner for his efforts to bring reconciliation between West Germany and countries of Eastern Europe. As for the marzipan, its main ingredients are almond, sugar and egg whites. Tourists often snatch up quite a bit of marzipan to give as gifts back home.

The Niederegger shop, one of the biggest in town, presents the specialty dessert in a wide variety of shapes like animals, fruits and buildings, including the Holstentor, from which the company adopts its logo.

The shop has a museum on the third floor and shows how marzipan is made. There’s also some rather huge marzipan sculptures.

Sweetness is not the only taste I carried with me when leaving Lubeck. It is a sophisticated sweetness that has a hint of salt, maybe it’s rooted in the red brick warehouses along the river that merchants once used to store salt, their major trade.

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