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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 century as the major trading centre for northern Europe. It has remained a centre for maritime commerce to this day, particularly with the Nordic countries. Despite the damage it suffered during the Second World War, the basic structure of the old city, consisting mainly of 15th- and 16th-century patrician residences, public monuments (the famous Holstentor brick gate), churches and salt storehouses, remains unaltered.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/272

The Hanseatic City of Lübeck was leading among this league of merchant cities which held a monopoly over the trade of the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. The functioning of the Hanseatic League is not only proof of early economic co-operation in Europe, but it also founded a social and cultural community which has left its mark throughout the region, particularly in the self-contained architectural world of brick Gothic.

Parts of the medieval city of Lübeck were severely destroyed during the Second World War. Its nomination for the World Heritage List was limited to three specific areas:

1. the Burgkloster, Koberg and sections between the Glockengiesserstrasse and the Aegidienstrasse.

2. the patrician residences between the Petrikirche and the Dom, the salt storehouses and the Holstentor.

3. the heart of the city, with the Marienkirche, the Rathaus and the Marktplatz. 

http://www.worldheritagesite.org/sites/lubeck.html