Lübeck city hall, Gothic municipal building in Old City, Germany

Lübeck city hall is a two-part brick Gothic building on the market square. The older block has a steep roof, a large round window in its brick facade, and three towers added around 1435; two slender green spires rise behind it. To its right, the Lange Haus (about 1300) shows pointed arches along the ground floor and a band of pointed-arch windows above, while the Kriegsstubenbau (1444) has pinnacles and arched windows with clock faces.

The first town hall, mentioned in Lübeck law records of 1225/26, stood at the market's northwest corner and was ceded to the tanners in 1250. Around 1240 a late-Romanesque group of three gabled houses was built on the present site; after a fire in 1251 its south and north gables were joined into monumental shield walls. Around 1340 the main building was rebuilt by 1350, and a fire in 1358 forced renewal of the roof truss.

The building reflects the power of merchants who controlled trade across Northern Europe and gathered here to make decisions about commerce. Its rooms show how important this city was for traders coming from many different places.

Visitors can explore the interior rooms through guided visits, gaining access to both the medieval chambers and administrative areas. The ground floor contains a restaurant in the historic basement vaults, which can be visited independently without a tour.

The vaulted cellars beneath the hall, now used by the Ratskeller restaurant, survive from the 13th-century building. They first served as storage for the cloth trade before later becoming wine cellars.