Hanseatic City of Lübeck

Lübeck, the former capital and Queen City of the Hanseatic League, was founded in the 12th century and prospered until the 16th as the major trading centre for northern Europe. UNESCO says that despite the damage of the Second World War, the basic structure of the old city remains unaltered: 15th- and 16th-century patrician houses, public monuments such as the Holstentor brick gate, churches and salt storehouses.

Wikivoyage explains that the city was an independent state until 1937 and grew rich as first among equals of the Hanse from the 11th to the 17th century, shipping salt across the Baltic. The old warehouses by the harbour now hold museums, shops and pubs, and the Altstadt is a living city centre rather than an open-air museum, with the best-preserved 13th-century streets at the Koberg at the island's northern end.

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