Holstentor.

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Holstentor

Top choice in Lübeck


Built in 1464 and looking so settled-in that it appears to sag, Lübeck’s charming red-brick city gate is a national icon. Its twin pointed cylindrical towers, leaning together across the stepped gable that joins them, captivated Andy Warhol (his print is in the St Annen Museum), and have graced postcards, paintings, posters and marzipan souvenirs. Discover this and more inside the Museum Holstentor, which sheds light on the history of the gate and on Lübeck's medieval mercantile glory days.

The Latin inscription on the west face ‘concordia domi foris pax’ means ‘harmony at home and peace abroad’.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Lübeck attractions

1. Museum Holstentor

Sheds light on the history of the gate and on Lübeck's medieval mercantile glory days.

2. Salzspeicher

0.02 MILES

Just behind the Holstentor (to the east) stand the Salzspeicher: six gabled brick shop-filled buildings once used to store salt transported from Lüneburg…

3. Theater Figuren Museum

0.1 MILES

Even if you think you don't like puppets, don’t miss this wondrous collection of some 1200 puppets, props, posters and more from Europe, Asia and Africa…

4. Petrikirche

0.13 MILES

Thanks to a lift, even the fitness-phobic get to enjoy panoramic views from the 50m-high platform in the tower of the 13th-century Petrikirche. No longer…

5. Rathaus

0.23 MILES

Sometimes described as a ‘fairy tale in stone’, Lübeck’s 13th- to 15th-century Rathaus is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful in Germany. Inside,…

6. Marienkirche

0.24 MILES

This fine Gothic church boasts the world's highest brick-vaulted roof and was the model for dozens of churches in northern Germany. Crane your neck to…

7. Buddenbrookhaus

0.27 MILES

Thomas Mann, winner of the 1929 Nobel Prize for Literature, was born in Lübeck in 1875, and his family’s former home is now the Buddenbrookhaus. Named…

8. Museumsquartier St Annen

0.44 MILES

This museum quarter includes an old synagogue, church and medieval buildings along its uneven streets. The namesake St Annen Museum details the diverse…