Museum Holstentor, Holsten Gate, Unesco Site, Lübeck, Germany
In addition to the Brandenburg Gate, the Cologne Cathedral and the Munich Church, there is hardly any other German building that enjoys such popularity around the world as the Lübeck Holstentor. It is the proud symbol of the history of Lübeck as a free city, and its pre-eminence in the eastern region. It is an epitome of all the ideas of Hanse, trade, power and wealth, and therefore of all the historical importance of Lübeck.
The Holstentor was erected in the years 1464-1478 by Dutch architect Hinrich Helmstede according to Dutch models. From the beginning he served both the defense and the representation. The building is a two-towered tower, formed by two powerful towers, with oblique roofs, the center of which forms an intermediate tract in which the round arched passageway is located. Two terracotta friezes, which encircle the gate as belt straps, tie the entire system visually together and divide the field side into only three storeys, although there are four inside. The intermediate tract is crowned by a powerful pediment, erected in this form only in 1864-71.
Visit Germany. Epic German Adventure route © Monika Newbound
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