Lübeck

Seaport and resort of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, 24 km/15 mi from the Baltic Sea, 60 km/37 mi northeast of Hamburg; population (2005 est) 211,800. Manufactured goods include machinery, aeronautical and space equipment, steel, and ironwork; there are also marine engineering, ship-repairing, and fish-canning industries. Lübeck is known for its wine trade and its marzipan. The Elbe–Lübeck Canal (1900) links the city with the main waterways of Europe and the docks at Travemunde have ferry connections to Scandinavia.

Founded in 1143, it has five Gothic churches and a cathedral dating from 1173. The Holstentor (1477) with its twin towers is the emblem of the city. Once head of the powerful Hanseatic League, it later lost much of its trade to Hamburg and Bremen, but improved canal and port facilities helped it to retain its position as a centre of Baltic trade. Lübeck was a free state of both the empire and the Weimar Republic.