HISTORY OF LÜNEBURG
Chronicle of the Hanseatic City Lüneburg
Welcome to the more than 1000-year old, beautiful Salt and Hanseatic City of Lüneburg. This thriving town with about 78,000 inhabitants is idyllically located between the Lüneburg Heath and the Elbtalaue. Lüneburg has stripped off its images as 'city of public servants' or 'garrison tow' and is now glowing as a heath-metropolis and university city.
9. C.
Discovery of the salt deposit underneath the old town (1.2 km2 wide and up to 4,000 m deep)
956
First mention of 'Luniburc', the castle on the Kalkberg. The name 'Lüneburg' evolved from 'Hliuni' (Lombard for refuge).
1172
Founding of the Lüne monastery
1230
The construction of the town hall begins
1247
Confirmation of the city charter
1289
The Construction of St. John´s Church begins
1371
Expulsion of the sovereign and destruction of his castle by the citizens of Lüneburg
1381
Lüneburg is now member of the Hanseatic Union
1412
First Hanseatic Day in Lüneburg, which was the 'Salt House' of the Hanseatic League
1530
Lüneburg becomes protestant
Until 1600
Political autonomy and economical primetime; Lüneburg becomes rich and powerful by salt mining
After 1600
Decline of economical an political power
1700-1702
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) is a chorister at the monastery school St. Michaelis
1714
King George Louis (Georg I. Ludwig in German) was Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg and from 1714 also King of Great Britain and Ireland and titular King of France. He came from the Guelph dynasty and founded the royal dynasty that ruled in Great Britain until 1901
1797
Construction of the still visible Old Crane in the harbour. The first crane was already mentioned in 1330 and in 1346 it was situated in the harbour
1813
Liberation from the French occupation under Napoleon. The Lüneburg 'heroine' Johanna Stegen contributes to the victory of the Prussian troops
Around 1820
Lüneburg gets a brine bath
1822-1826
Lüneburg is the home of the parents of the poet Heinrich Heine who often visited them
1847
Lüneburg gets a connection to the railway network
1885
Lüneburg as an administrative and juridical location
1894
Inauguration oft the Synagogue (Am Schifferwall)
1906
Building of the Water Tower on the remains of the medieval fortifications
1932
Kalkberg becomes one of the first nature reserves in Germany
1938
The Synagogue was sold for demolition
1945
Signing of the partial surrender for Northwest Germany on Victory Hill in Lüneburg
1939-1945
Lüneburg was almost not destroyed in the Word War II
1950
Over 180 houses were destroyed by subsidence damages by salt mining
1974
In Scharnebeck near Lüneburg the world´s largest ship lift at that time was built
1976
Start of construction of the Elbe-Seite-Canal
1980
Closure of the saline, today the German Salt Museum can be found at this location
1990
Conversion of the Scharnhorst barracks into a University Campus. Seat of today’s Leuphana University
2007
Lüneburg officially re-awarded the title “Hanseatic City”
2012
After 600 years the 2nd International Hanseatic Days takes place in Lüneburg
Lüneburg becomes a Fair-Trade-Town (one of 105 in Lower-Saxony)
2017
Inauguration of the Audimax, the central building of the Leuphana University by Daniel Libeskind
2018
Inauguration of the memorial for the former Synagogue (Am Schifferwall No.5)
Today
Lüneburg is a growing town in North Germany with over 78,000 inhabitants and almost 4 million tourists every year
Further information