The best city hikes and walks around Lemgo

The medieval Hanseatic city is still clearly recognizable. Like a green belt, the rampart, the former fortification, encloses the historic old town with its magnificent ornamental gables. The market square with the historic town hall from the 14th century, which still serves its purpose today, is just as worth a visit as the two medieval churches in the center of the city: St. Nicolai directly behind the town hall, a landmark of Lemgo with its two different towers, and St. Marien on Stiftstraße. In front of the city gates on Herforder Straße, the stump of the former St. Johann church towers into the sky. An old grave from the 8th century in the cemetery proves that this place was one of the cradles of Christianity in the region. Quelle: https://www.lemgo.de/urlaub-tourismus/sehenswuerdigkeiten

The first fortification of the city of Lemgo after its founding probably consisted only of a rampart and a ditch. It was not until the middle of the 13th century that a city wall with gates and towers was built. This wall was constantly reinforced and repaired. In the second half of the 16th century, the systematic expansion into a fortress took place. At that time, triangular bastions, the so-called Homeien, were also built in particularly vulnerable areas. Various experts, so-called Wallmeisters (fortification masters), were hired for these works. The last one, Henrich vom Hartze, was appointed in 1622. During the Thirty Years' War, only repair work was carried out. Because in the meantime, it had been recognized in Lemgo that no matter how strong the city's fortification was, it offered no protection and would not withstand the firepower of cannons. They did not even let it come to a siege and bombardment. The violent storming by the Swedes in 1646 was due to the stubbornness of the imperial city commander. On the other hand, its relatively strong fortification made the city interesting for both warring parties, so they made sure not to have it at their backs and to occupy it with their own troops as much as possible. After the end of the war, Lemgo let its fortifications fall into disrepair. Since 1853, walls and towers were sold for demolition, so that only small remains have survived. The last city gate was demolished in 1876.

The "dispute over the barrel" inspired the Aachen sculptor Bonifatius Stirnberg in 1977 to create the fountain. In 1587, Count Simon VI had the government of the Detmold region relocated to Brake Castle, where many of the count's officials now had their workplace. Due to the high space requirements, additional buildings had even been erected to accommodate the chancellor and other officials. However, in most cases, the officials, like Chancellor Dr. Balthasar Knaust, preferred to live in Lemgo rather than in Brake, which is why many of them lived not far from the current location of the Chancellor's Fountain at Ostertor. A few years later, the people of Lemgo fell more and more out of favor with the count, and the "dispute over the barrel" was a point at which this dispute ignited. The town had introduced a beverage tax, which, in Simon VI's opinion, was done unlawfully. As a result, the count turned away from Lemgo more and more and towards Detmold. The fountain is also a popular play and photo motif, especially among children and visitors to the town. Water flows from the top of a barrel, which, according to the artist, is filled with precious Mindener Bräuhahn beer, and around the edge of the basin are the parties involved in the dispute as bronze figures with movable joints. The expressive faces and the flexibility of the figures ensure that both young and old regularly want to shake their hands.

Newly created. Really beautiful and well visited

Beautiful city center

The Bega terraces at Langenbrücker Tor were built as part of the flood protection measures as part of the Auenpark. They offer a place to relax in the middle of the city.

The Auenpark was created as a floodplain for the Bega. In addition to the important flood protection, the local recreation area between Regenstorplatz and Langenbrücker Tor enriches the city with play and sports opportunities. Source: https://www.lemgo.de/politik-verwaltung/eigenbetriebe-beteiligungen/staedtische-betriebe-lemgo/staedtische-gruenflaechen

With a length of around 4 kilometres, the ramparts enclose the town centre of the old Hanseatic city of Lemgo. With the exception of the western section of the rampart, which had to make way for a wide road, all other areas of the formerly mighty earthen rampart have been landscaped. The remains of the moat are now the elongated swan pond on the Slavertorwall and the Knochenhauerteich on the Kramerrondell. In the southern section with the Lindenwall and Hoher Wall areas, the mighty earthwork has been preserved at an impressive height and gives a rough idea of the dimensions of the former fortification rampart in the early 17th century. The area of the chestnut rampart was levelled as early as 1786 and planted with a multi-row chestnut avenue. A promenade path with a linden avenue was laid out on the Lindenwall and Hoher Wall sections of the rampart in the 19th century. Today, the high earthen ramparts also serve as flood protection against the flooding of the Bega. The northern section of the wall with the areas of Johannistorwall, Slavertorwall and Ostertorwall was almost completely leveled in the early 20th century and transformed into a landscaped green area according to plans by Cologne's gardening director Finke. Source: https://www.lwl.org/geodatenkultur/objekt/252842