Luneburg's Rathaus

Last weekend, I was fortunate to be able to make two trips to Luneburg's beautiful Rathaus, or city hall. Parts of the rathaus date back to the 13th century and perhaps even earlier. Last Friday, an assistant to the burgermeister or mayor of the city met a group of about 70 students (and me) to welcome us to the community. About half of the students present were Americans with the USAC program but probably most were students from other parts of Europe through another program called the Erasmus program.

Hanseatic league cities like Luneburg built these beautiful rathauses to show off their wealth as well as to provide suitable facilities for meetings of Hanseatic businessmen who led the league.

The image at the top is of the rathaus on the Friday we toured it. The fierce looking medieval creature in the next image is perched atop a banister in the rathaus. The beautiful weather we have been having is slowly beginning to change and there is a chill in the air here in northern Germany.