Lübeck's Dance of Death

Postcards

The dance of death, mayor, canon and nobleman St. Mary's Church has a small shop, selling pictures, postcards and books. Strangely there is only one card of the dance of death itself. The card shows mayor, canon and nobleman - with Lübeck in the background and St. Mary's church in the middle.

St. Mary's Church was bombed the night between 28^th and 29^th March 1942 and the painting was destroyed.


St. Mary's under the bombardment.	St. Mary's after the bombardment.	Lübeck and St. Mary's after the bombardment.

Pictures of the new stained glass windows from 1952 -56.

The card to the left shows both windows. Click to enlarge (146K).

The card to the right shows emperor, empress and king. Notice that the two Deaths surrounding the king are unmistakably female in contrast to the original painting. Click to enlarge (102K).

The card to the left depicts the youth trying to pull Death away from the maiden. The next row shows the baby - pointing to the word "DEO" (God), while Death is kneeling in front of the cradle. The text means "Glory to God in the High". The bottom row shows Lübeck burning under the bombardment in 1942. The 3 panes show Holstentor, St. Peter- and Aegidien-church and the cathedral. Click to enlarge.

The card to the right is the top part of the left window. Death leads the procession with a flute and there's fire and stars in the little panes (in the right window there's an eclipse of the sun and a rainbow). Then follows pope, emperor, empress, king and mayor. Click to enlarge.

If you ever get to Lübeck - send home a postcard. And then go down to Alfstrasse 36 and try their great beer !