The Salt Museum

As a medieval town that survived the flames of World War II, Lüneburg unfolds like a three-dimensional history book, perfectly blending the industrial heritage of its millennium-old salt production, the trading glory of the Hanseatic League, and the natural poetry of the heathland. Here, there are no bustling tourist crowds—only the tilted red-brick buildings narrating the vicissitudes of salt mine subsidence, while purple flower fields bloom in serene Nordic romance—an eternal balance between industrial rationality and natural sensibility. Lüneburg's lifeblood began with salt. During the Middle Ages, its salt springs were discovered by wild boars wallowing in the mud, and from then on, this "white gold" fueled the prosperity of the Hanseatic trade network, elevating the city to one of the wealthiest in Northern Europe. Today, the story of salt comes alive at the German Salt Museum (Deutsches Salzmuseum). Housed in a former saltworks, this museum not only showcases the ground subsidence caused by salt mining (the reason behind the city's leaning buildings) but also lets visitors touch salt crystals and experience medieval salt-boiling techniques firsthand.