Lüneburg

Lüneburg is situated in Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) and has a population of about 72,000. Not too far is Lüneburger Heide and the small river Illmenau. Lüneburg is about 70km² and the density of population is 1000 people per km².

Politics

The city is separated into 24 different districts. The mayor is Ullrich Mägde from the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). The two city managers are Eduard Kolle from the SPD and Dr. Gerhard Scharf from the Christian-Democratic Union of Germany (CDU). The cities six historic town gates are still to be seen.

Salt mining & sinking

Lüneburg lies on a so called sinking heath made from salt mining and the tectonic plate movement.

Although salt mining has stopped, visitors can still visit the Salt Museum and enjoy the health spas.

Nearly 250 sinking measuring points are still being monitored as the area continues to sink. Several old houses have been saved thanks to the measuring points that have been monitored since 1946. The impact of the sinking is still noticeable and sometimes marveled at in the city.

The tectonic plate movement that resulted from the brine mining can be observed at Michaelis Church and the so-called Gate to the Underworld. Once a small town, Lüneburg has now grown into a Hanseatic city thanks to the saline, the salt mining, and the herring market.

There used to be four barracks in Lüneburg, one now being the University. Only is to be found still today, although much smaller than it once was. On one of the former barracks square's there is now the Lünepark, which can be reached with the bridge that was built in 2006.

Demographics

Culture

There are many museums, theaters, and churches, for tourists to visit