GERMANY: Lemgo town

Lemgo’s medieval town centre with stone and adorned half-timbered houses date from the Late-Gothic and Renaissance period. Very few towns in Germany have a historical centre restored with such careful attention to detail. The Town Hall (“Rathaus“) is listed as a piece of European Union artwork on the UNESCO list 1. Built between the years 1325 and 1612 the house represents an excelent example of Gothic and Renaissance architecture. The Chancellor Fountain (“Kanzlerbrunnen“) was built by the sculptor Bonifatius Stirnberg in 1977. Arms and legs of the figures are movable. The city of Lemgo lies in the heart of the Lippe region of North Rhine Westphalia, Germany. It is located approximately 15km east of the Teutoberg Forest. The “Junkerhaus“ municipal museum (3:31) is the creation of artist Karl Junker (1850-1912). This two-story wood framed house was his home. The half--timbered frame is covered with pilaster and cornices made of carved boards, strips of wood and latticework. Karl Junker was as severely schizophrenic as he was talented when it came to architecture, and this fact is evident in the home that became his legacy. The world inside his head provided the blueprint for the Junker House, a home like something out of a nightmare, complete with human faces that stare down from ceilings, twisting caged staircases, skeletal furniture and “ghosts“. September 21, 2010