St. Mary of Lübeck in 360° & 3D

New location of the baptismal font

In the course of the renovation and partial redesign of the church interior, the altar was moved to a new position below the large organ.[He used to be in the choir.](https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=iqyUTqjvKRN&cloudEdit=1&sr=-3.13,-.75&ss=41)

The ambulatory

In the aisle behind the choir, the ambulatory, from north to south, are some fascinating works of art to view.In the north-east corner of the church are figures from the Fredenhagen Altar. On the back wall of the choir we encounter two Brabender reliefs from 1515, donated by the Salige family for their own salvation.On the left below the Last Supper is the Lübeck mouse "Rosemarie" on the rose bush.In the southern ambulatory you can see the third Brabender relief. Opposite are the "14 broken crosses, injuries / connections", a work by Günther Uecker from the year 2000. Uecker, one of the most important contemporary artists, is known for objects of kinetic art and relief-like nail pictures.

Totentanz

You are here in the Norder porch of St. Mary, which has served as a confessional since around 1450 and was decorated around 1466 with the famous dance of death frieze by Bernt Notke. In 1701 the frieze was replaced by a copy by Anton Wortmann because of damage. A 15th-century replica can be seen in Tallinn, along with a photo on the pillar.In this series, death is the great equalizer, it takes everyone: emperor, empress, pope, clergy, nobles, councillors, citizens, men and women.During the reconstruction of St. Marien, the Lübeck artist Alfred Mahlau was commissioned to design a new dance of death.

Die Astronomische Uhr

Here you are standing in front of the "new" astronomical clock from St. Marien. The famous original was burned in the Palmarum air raid in 1942. In the 1950s and 1960s, the astronomical clock was rebuilt by master watchmaker Paul Behrens, and he was only able to do this because his father had serviced the previous clock and he knew it inside out because there were no medieval blueprints or dimensions of the original.Likewise, this new building could only be implemented in the post-war period because Paul Behrens tirelessly asked companies and friends for financial support. In 1955 he made the design and 12 years later his work was complete.The astronomical clock is 13 meters high, which is about the height of a five-story house. It stands in the Totentanz chapel, where it is intended to remind us of the passing time

Alter Standort des Taufbeckens

Here is a 360° view of its new position below the large organ in the west of the nave.In the course of the renovation and partial redesign of the church interior, the altar was moved to a new position below the large organ.

The mayor's chapel from 1289

One of the oldest chapels in the church. Here the city council met for meetings and prayers; New members were only confirmed by a trade fair. The original chairs are still there. The folding seats with the so-called misericordia are special. These are protrusions on the flaps, to support the rear part, to bring relief when standing for a long time - especially for the older senators. The chairs were also decorated with drolleries, which are mischievous hybrid creatures, caricatures of human traits or performances; such as the organ-playing donkey.The floor made of tiles and tombstones is also original. Above that, Treese, the treasury of the council not only for money and treasures, but for deeds and contracts.There the written privileges, bestowed by Emperor Friedrich, were stored. I. (Barbarossa) from 1188, as well as the imperial freedom letter by Friedrich II., grandson of Barbarossa, in 1226.

Letter chapel

Dear visitors,You are in one of the oldest chapels in the church. It was built in 1310 together with the south tower, which is 125 m high. During the construction phase, it served as a closed prayer room - Capella Pia - for masses. Until the Reformation it was called Anna Chapel, dedicated to the mother of Mary. The extreme veneration of the holy images could not last in the Reformation, so that the chapel was rededicated. From then on it was called the Briefkapelle, because the town clerks, who had their booths in front of the church, moved in. Today it serves as a winter church because the room can be tempered.The letter chapel is a jewel of high Gothic architecture. The star vault, similar to the vault in the chapter house of the Marienburg near Danzig and some English chapter houses, is held by two free-standing pillars made of Bornholm granite.

Nail cross

The cross commemorates the bombing of Coventry by the German Luftwaffe on 14/15. November 1940 with approx. 570 fatalities and with the destruction of the late medieval Coventry Cathedral and large parts of the city center during "Operation Moonlight Sonata".After the air raid, the provost had the inscription "Father forgive" written in the remaining choir wall in the burnt cathedral and joined three burnt-out roof truss nails from the rubble to form a cross.The idea of the community of the Cross of Nails Centers, whose symbol is the cross made up of nails, originated in Coventry in the years after the Second World War and pursues the goal of peace and reconciliation.St. Marien has been a Cross of Nails Center since 1971.

Murals

The interior of the cathedral has quite different wall paintings. In the "spandrels", i.e. next to the tips of the choir arcades, one can still see (in six circles): 1. GENESIS; 2. the separation of light and dark; 3. the separation of solid and liquid; 4. the separation of water, land and sky, 5. the initiation of the stars, 6. the creation of the animals.The restoration of the clerestory of the choir initially caused a sensation: the restorers Malskat and Fey conjured up 18 large Byzantine-style figures there. Larger than man, ancient proportions, white rounded heads, majestic countenance, spiritualized, immobile they meet us in frontal view. In the middle Mary, blessing Christ in her arms, next to her Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist.

The Marientidenkapelle and the Antwerp Altar

It was used for Marian worship in the 15th century. One of the highlights of this veneration was the donation of the Antwerp Altar by the merchant Johann Bone in 1522.This altar tells the story of Mary and her clan. The outside, seen during Holy Week, depicts the Annunciation scene with Mary and the angel Gabriel. The next view, seen during Lent, depicts the life of Mary's parents, Anna and Joachim, in eight colored panels. When the altar is fully opened, the carved and gold-encased feast page is revealed and there we learn something of the meaning of Mary.The altar is a high-quality, mass-produced export article from Antwerp. Hence the name "Antwerp Altar". It is also called "Altar of the Master of 1518".

Wandmalereien im Obergaden, nördliches Seitenschiff

On the north aisle from the choir to the towers:- A knight with St. Christina and female saint. - Michael between two pilgrim saints - A bishop between John and an apostle - Female saints between Peter and Paul - Next to Jonas with the whale. This is very easy to see. - Christ between John and Mary

Christopher wall painting

The nave - built about 60 years after the choir - was characterized by "house stone painting", which should give the impression that it had been built with sandstone blocks, for example. The clerestory - that is the space below the windows of the side aisles - were decorated with cycles of saints . On the southern crossing pillar impresses a huge Christopher and in front of the letter chapel a fable window. Pillars and vault were richly painted with plants, Mary and prophet images, stars, mythical creatures, drolleries, birds and foliage. The view up through the colors made the picture of the "heavenly Jerusalem" arise.The "Gothic image" of the church existed until 1476, then it was whitewashed except for the Christopher. Since its pure appearance is supposed to protect against sudden death, no one probably dared to paint over it.

View from the Organs & above the Trese

View from the Organs & above the Trese

Light Tree Chapel / Greverade Chapel

Here in the north tower, in the Greveraden chapel, which was consecrated in 1493, is the bronze tree of lights created by Hans Heiber in 1988. Three large-format charcoal drawings form the triptych by Günther Grass. Created in 1990 while he was working on the book "Totes Holz", it deals with forest dieback and environmental destruction. Bare, dead trees, shortened to stumps, call for mercy.The three tree stumps in the middle panel are reminiscent of the crosses of Golgotha.Opposite is the plaster cast of a crucifix from 1430 from the monastery church in Vadstena/ Sweden. The original comes from an unknown Flemish master who also created the Darsow Madonna. This chapel invites you to linger in silence.

View from the Organs & above the Trese

You are in the Marienkirche in Lübeck

Join us on a journey back in time to the 12th century.In 1143 Lübeck was founded by Adolf II von Schauenburg on the Buku peninsula. After a fire in the city, Henry the Lion took over Lübeck in 1159. Surrounded by the Wakenitz and Trave rivers, Lübeck had a sheltered harbor so secure that Henry the Lion gave the city's merchants free trade and legal security. The heyday of Lübeck began, the monopoly for salt was organized and it became the second largest city in Germany during the Hanseatic period.Henry the Lion moved the bishopric to Lübeck, but the citizens and councilors of Lübeck wanted to show who the real rulers of the city were and built their own church in a new architectural style: the High Gothic basilica. When the church was rebuilt around 1350, it had the highest central nave in the world.

Alenkapelle or prayer chapel

The prayer chapel is reserved for silent prayer. It was first mentioned in 1369, named after its donors, the Alen brothers, and houses the elaborately engraved and partly colored bronze tombstone of the Hutterock family. An extraordinary late Gothic work of art. In the center the deceased couple is depicted under an elaborate canopy of rich niche architecture, shrouded in wrinkled shrouds. Their heads are surrounded by inscriptions: "...god sey der selen gnedich".On the east wall of this chapel is a major work by the Nazarene Friedrich Overbeck, The Lamentation of Christ, 19th century.

The Fable Windows

The wall of the chapel facing the interior of the church has three paintings that are based on the windows of the nave.The right window area is decorated with eight depictions of animal fables with moral content, set in medallions:- Top left: The wolf sermon - Top right: The fable of the deer who lost his antlers - Left, 2nd from above: The sewing donkey - Right, 2nd from above: The flying crab - Left, 2nd from bottom: The hen that lays golden eggs - Right, 2nd from below: The ants playing chess - Below left: The man who found the treasure in the field - Bottom right: not identified

Mule und Alter

In the high choir, after the rood screen and the choir screens were built, the clergy performed their rituals under a richly decorated Gothic high altar from around 1370 until the Reformation. A simple table altar stood in front of the rood screen for the people.As part of the baroque renovation of the church in the 17th century, the Gothic altar was replaced by the Fredenhagen altar, a major work of Flemish Baroque of European standing. You can find parts of it in the ambulatory.The destruction of the rood screen in 1942 and much of the interior design gave the chancel a new perspective, a visual axis from the towers in the west to the windows of the Marientine Chapel in the east.The baptismal font is in the middle of the choir. In 1875, Thomas Mann, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and famous from Lübeck, was baptized at this baptismal font.

Memorial chapel

Here in the south tower is the memorial chapel. The first thing that catches the eye are the shattered bells lying on the shattered floor.On the night of Palm Sunday, 28/29 On March 19, 1942, Lübeck's old town was bombed and set on fire. St. Mary's was ablaze, temperatures over 1000 degrees developed, the bells fell from a height of 60 m. The pulse bell from 1668 with its 7134 kg and the Sunday bell from 1508 with 2000 kg remained as a reminder and commemoration. The other bells were melted down to form the new pulse bell. Today the bell hangs in the north tower.Hometowns and provinces of the expellees from the eastern German territories are depicted in the chapel window.