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European Hansemuseum in Lubeck = a great place!

Last updated Sep 25, 2024

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Destinations | Europe | Germany | Lubeck

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European Hansemuseum is almost mandatory to visit during your stay in Lubeck. This is the place where you will learn almost everything about the Hansa period, not just about Lubeck but worldwide. This is an interactive museum where you can easily spend the whole day!

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Lubeck is an old Hansa city – a leading one

This is not a post about Lubeck as a Hanseatic city. There are way better sites where you can read all about that. This is a post about the European Hansemuseum which is located in Lubeck. However, it’s important to know that Lubeck played a great part in the Hansa period. The people living here were really smart because they made all the trading safer.

Lubeck is an old Hansa city - a leading one

By making the ships go in a convoy, they made the merchandise arrive safer and that’s the whole point of the Hansa. The Hansa is the trading monopoly that was created. During the golden times, there were 230 cities connected to the Hanseatic trades. Lubeck was one of the main cities. This is also the place where the “regular” receipt was invented. The Hansa period was blooming until America was invented – in 1492 it all began to go south instead. All of that and more, you will learn at the museum.

European Hansemuseum – A modern museum

We have been to a lot of museums that are interactive and modern but this one might take the price. When you get your ticket, you scan it into a machine and then you can choose your language (English, Swedish, German, and Russian). After that, you choose what you are interested in learning more about during your visit to the museum. we chose to learn more about poor people during the Hanseatic period.

After that, you are ready to explore this great museum. It’s up to you how long your visit will last. Well, that goes without saying but what I mean is that you can spend the whole day here if you like and still you won’t be able to read it all or listen to all the audio.

Your ticket is your guide

As soon as you enter the museum, you will see how much use you have of your entrance ticket. You use it all over the exhibition and you scan it to get more information about the Hanse and the Hanseatic town of Lubeck. Old parts that show you how the city used to look like. Scan your ticket and information comes up and shows you what the different parts you are looking at used to be.

Without this information, it would be hard to follow and know what you are looking at. The archeological part is super impressive and it’s a special feeling walking around here and imagining what used to happen here during the Hanse.

The Hanse was one of the largest commercial networks of all time.

The rise and fall of the Hanse

A visit to the museum will give you the whole (well, almost) story about the Hanse and how the trading was done. Here, you will not only find an interactive exhibition but also cabinets with valuables that have been found from that period. There is so much to explore and see here that it sometimes becomes overwhelming.

Things to find inside European Hansemuseum in Lubeck.

At first, we started out by pushing every button and reading all the texts on the walls. After an hour we noticed that we had not moved at all so we felt that we needed to speed up a bit. It’s interesting and you can also smell and feel the presence of ancient times and what played out during the Hanse and Lubeck.

Castle Friary – our favorite part of the museum

When you buy a ticket to the European Hansemuseum, you will also get access to the castle friary. If you only want to visit the friary (also called the St. Mary Magdalene Friary) it costs 7 euros. It’s an interesting story and one of my favorite parts was a room that was sealed off with a glass door. You are not allowed to enter. The reason for that is that the air will destroy the paintings on the wall. I’m not sure how that’s possible but it sure is interesting.

The monastery used to be a hospital and it’s part of the UNESCO World Heritage of Lubeck Old Town. The only thing that freaked me out here where the statues of monks. Mini had walked away and I was alone, strolling around. Suddenly I was face to face with some really creepy statues. Other than that, this place is great!

Restaurant Nord – A great place for lunch

After walking around the museum for hours, we had lunch at the restaurant Nord. It’s located inside the museum (but you don’t need to buy tickets to eat here). We started out with soup. Mini ordered the tomato soup as a starter and I went for the cauliflower soup with garlic bread. It was delicious!

For the main course, I got a salad with goat cheese and pine nuts. It was delicious and super fresh. Mini ordered pasta (also with pine nuts) and we were both very pleased with our choices. Usually, I would prefer whatever Mini orders but this time I stuck to my own plate. The restaurant is a great place to grab something to eat before you continue to explore the museum.

Check out some of the restaurants and cafes in Lubeck

We have been to all of them and can vouch for each and every one of them. Lubeck has so many nice restaurants and cafés to offer that it’s impossible to try them all out!