Getting to know Lüneburg
Monday, September 29th, 2008
This past weekend was pretty busy, so I’m dividing the posts again. Friday was a mandatory daytrip to the Salt Museum and Luneburg’s town hall for a traditional toast with the mayor. It is normally done with red wine, but it was only noon, so they decided to use orange juice instead. A little disappointing. After the mayor’s speech and toast, we took a tour of the town hall. It dates back several centuries with a collection of architectural styles. We were able to see the treasure room, banquet room, among several others and the torture instruments (including a pear of anguish). Very painful looking. They had weights that you had to wear around your neck for punishment too. The length and time was based on the crime. If a woman was flirting with a man who she wasn’t married to, it was 25 kg, 4 hours/day for 3 days. If you denied it, that is when they would bring out the torture instruments because you always tell the truth under intense pain. I wonder why anyone would take torture over wearing a weight around their neck?After that we saw the remaining parts of the town walls and headed to the Salt Museum. We learned all about the history and production of salt. Interesting, huh? Since we learned a lot about Lüneburg that day, I figured I’d use this post to give some info about Lüneburg, since no one that I’ve talked to know anything about it.
– Lüneburg is a city in the German state of Lower Saxony, 30 minutes south east of Hamburg.
– The city of Lüneburg is over 1,000 years old, with references back to 956 A.D.
– Lüneburg was a Hanseatic city, and made rich, due to a monopoly on salt production in the Middle Ages. The salt mines were closed in 1980 due to areas where the land is sinking.
– Lüneburg is now most relevant for its university, Leuphana Universitat. Over 80 countries are represented in the university.
– Lüneburg has the second most bars per mile and per resident in Europe, second to Madrid, Spain.
– Because Lüneburg was never destroyed in any war, due to skilful negotiation and bribing, many of the buildings date back to the 15th and 16th centuries. This is also why Lüneburg doesn’t have any of its treasures acquired during it’s history. It gave them all away to avoid attacks.
– Nazi war criminal, and SS commander, Heinrich Himmler committed suicide on Uelzenerstrasse in Lüneburg when faced with capture by the British Army. Like Hitler, he swallowed a cyanide capsule before interrogation. His body is buried in an unknown location in the Lüneburger Heide.
– Some of the famous residents are J.S Bach and Heinrich Heine. Bach attended school and sang in the choir in the Michaelkirche.
There is a lot more. I’ll probably do another post with more info….
mrnational
