LVRECK, one of the three remaining free cities of Germany, is situated on the river Trave, about 40 m. n.e. of Hamburg, and 14 from the Baltic. It is built on a rising ground, and its appearance with its walls and ramparts still partly standing, its great gates, its proud towers, its Gothic churches, and its antlque gabled houses is still almost mediteval. Its principal buildings are St. Mary's church (IXe .3.farienkirche), one of the most beautiful specimens of Gothic architecture in the n. of Europe, finished in 1304, with three naves, the central oue 119 ft. in length, and two towers, 382 ft. high; the town-house, containing the Hanseatic archives and a public library of 50,000 volumes, built of red and black glazed tiles; the cathedral, built 1170-1341; the monastery church, also a masterpiece of Gothic; the exchange, and the banks. Ltibeck is rich in educa tional establishments of all kinds, religious and secular—the number within the city amounting to 54, while in the suburbs there are no less than 37, in all 91. The provision for the poor is excellent, on account of the large bequests that citizens have made at different periods for this purpose, the largest benevolent insdtution being the hospital of the Holy Ghost. The industrial activity of Lubeck is considerable. Ship-buildiug and engineering are carried on; there are also many breweries and important cigar manufactories; yet in the old days when the Hanseatic league was flourishing, the Merchant company or college could reckon 5,000 members, while in 1859 it had only 471. The fisheries of Lt1beck are important and prosperous. The chief imports are wine, silks, cottons, earthenware, pigments, colonial products, and timber from Sweden and 14-Inland; the chief exports are grain, cattle, iron, and wool. The harbor lies 16 or 17 m. down the river, at Travemtinde, a bathing-place, although the river has of late years been so much deepened that the largest ships can come up to Lubeck. The income of
the city and territory in 1879 was £129,980; the public debt, £1,190,200. In 1878, 2,302 vessels, of 301,910 tons, entered the port of Lubeck, and 2,332, of 307,557 tons, cleared. Pop. of town and suburbs, in 1875, 44,799; of the territory, 56,912.
Lubeck has existed since the 11th c., and received important privileges from the German emperors in the 12th c., which were confirmed by the Daus,. iato whose power it fell in 1201. It was declared a free city of the empire in 122G, and thereafter main tained its independence against the Danes, and joined the other commercial towns in the great Hanseatic league (q.v.). With the decline of the Hanseatic league, Lubeck lost its historic importance, but continued a flourishing and independent commercial city, till it was taken and plundered by the French, I\ ov. 6, 1806. Its trade suffered also grievously from the French continental system. In 1810 it was incorporated with the French empire. It recovered its independence in 1813, and ia now a member of the German empire. Its trade has also revived; and the railway connection with Hamburg, and lines of steamers to ports of the Baltic, have contributed much to the increase of its prosperity. It possesses a tc,rritory 109 sq.m. in extent.
Constitution.—The constitution, which was anciently aristocratic, has been democra tic since 1669. The government is intrusted to a senate, which consisted, till 1851, of twenty members; but since that year, of only fourteen, who, in legislative and also in certain administrative functions, require the concurrence of the municipality or council of citizens, a body comprising 120 members. The supreme court of appeal for the free cities was in Ltibeek till 1879, when the imperial courts became supreme; and Lubeck law (Lizbisdes Becht) is of acknowledged authority in many questions.