Welcome to Kulturforum Burgkloster

and museum for archeology

Lübeck's Burgkloster - the ‘Castle Abbey' - built from 1229 by Dominican monks, is undoubtedly the most important monastery complex in the north of Germany. After the Reformation the abbey was put to use as a poorhouse, and in 1897 it was converted into a courthouse and remand prison. During the Nazi dictatorship some Jews of Lübeck were interned here, along with others who offered resistance to the regime. The Nazi ‘People's Tribunal' court sentenced four of Lübeck's clergymen here, who were then put to death in Hamburg. Restored 1976 - 1990, the abbey complex, known today as the Kulturforum Burgkloster, is used for exhibitions, concerts and lectures. A herb garden has been laid out in the cloister quadrangle and in 2005 a permanent exhibition of Lübeck's archaeological treasures was opened, exhibiting exceptional finds in the fields of household objects, food, hygiene, clothing, toys and jewellery, and illustrating the major themes of religion, education and leisure. A full scale model of a dig illustrates the way archaeologists work. Lübeck's collection of archaeological finds contains in all about 2.5 million pieces.