St Marien in Lübeck is one of the most important churches in northern Europe and an impressive testimony to Lübeck's history. It marks a place in the city with which many Lübeck residents identify to a high degree. This is not only due to the city symbol "Lübeck Crown" and the term "7 Towers", but certainly also to the recent history of destruction and reconstruction after the Second World War.

Miracles and wounds lie close together in this church.

And the experience of successful reconstruction after the dramatic caesura of 1942 is certainly one of the greatest miracles in the history of this church. The turbulent confrontation with history and the present can be read in a uniquely condensed way in St Marien, with all its identifiable fractures and contradictions.

Respect for the achievements and decisions of the builders, the designers and the post-war generation therefore plays an important role in all considerations regarding restoration and conservation measures. The challenge is often to incorporate contemporary issues and perceptions of the world into the overall work of art that is St Marien, without overlooking the mother tongue of the Gothic cathedral.

It is the key to a deep, spiritual experience of the space. From a theological point of view, the church buildings were ultimately understood as a built part of the liturgy and designed accordingly. They pointed to the "Heavenly Jerusalem" (Revelation of John, chapter 21) and were intended as the new temple of Solomon (1 Kings, chapter 6).

Everything that belongs to the church services, things and jewellery (ornamenta) is full of divine signs and mysteries. (Bishop Durandus of Mende, died in 1296)

Based on this fundamental idea, the Gothic Basilica of St Marien leads visitors from the heyday of the Lübeck Hanseatic League through the Renaissance and Baroque periods, through the Second World War to the present day. It harbours a precious treasure trove of architecture and works of art that document the development of sacred art from the 13th to the 21st century and inspire visitors to engage with the past and present.

The simultaneity of Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Modernism in St Marien reflects the cultural history of Christianity in a unique and authoritative way. Each epoch retains its own right and expressiveness.

The heterogeneity of the artistic and pictorial decoration, in turn, combines the periods, milieus and theologies into a unique symphony of architecture and art that remains mysteriously legible for people right up to the present day. And this is one of the messages of St Marien: Time stands still - and at the same time exists in its movement. Eternity urges to take shape here.