Germany - Lübeck, Salzspeicher

The ‘Salzspeicher’ (Salt Warehouses) are six gabled brick buildings on the banks of the Obertrave, next to the well known ‘Holstentor’. The warehouses were built between 1579 and 1745 in the style of the Brick Renaissance.

Originally, the buildings were used to store the salt that was mined in the Oldesloe saltworks (nearby Lüneburg) and brought to Lübeck over the Stecknitz canal and Trave. From the ‘Salzspeicher’ in Lübeck the salt was transported to Scandinavian and Baltic countries, where it was used for the preservation of fish. This salt trade from the late Middle Ages onward was a major reason for the wealth and power of Lübeck.