European Hansemuseum

The museum is located in the northern part of the old town of the city and lies in the part of the city that is considered a World Heritage Site (Hanseatic City of Lübeck). The museum is part of the Burgkloster or Castle Friary site, a former Dominican monastery from the 13th century,[4] and it's also to a degree integrated with the "Castle Hill" nearby. The location has been described as "one of the most important medieval monuments in northern Germany".[7] Visitors to the museum can also access the Burgkloster and the archaeological site on which the museum was built, thus providing an insight into the development of the urban and social structure of Lübeck in parallel to the museum's exhibition chronicling the history of the Hansa.[1][4][7]

The museum was designed by the architectural firm Andreas Heller Architects & Designers, based in Hamburg.[7] The building is constructed of hand-crafted bricks, and though modernist in its expression, also displays references to its historical context. Its compact wall can thus be interpreted as a reference to the old medieval city wall, part of which once was located on the site of the museum; similarly, the roof of the building can be seen as a referral to the crow-stepped gables of the old city of Lübeck, and its decoration as a contemporary interpretation of the Gothic taste for intricate quatrefoil. Inside, the layout of the museum mixes open and closed spaces and it contains, apart from the exhibition areas, also a playground and a restaurant.[4][7] The museum covers an area of in total 7,405 square metres (79,710 sq ft).[8]