Lüneburg, a town of Hanover, situated on the river Ilmenau, 31 miles by rail SE. of Hamburg. Its streets are narrow and its houses medieval, but its suburbs are modern. The 15th-century church of St Michael contains the tombs of the Lüneburg princes. The five-aisled church of St John dates from the 14th century, is pure Gothic in style, and has a tower 371 feet high. The medieval town-house is adorned with old pictures and stained glass. A salt-mine, discovered in 906, still has an annual yield of 21,250 tons. There are also a gypsum-mine, iron-works, chemical manufactures, &c. Lüneburg lampreys are well known in Germany. Pop. (1885) 19,336. Although existent in 795, the place only began to acquire importance after the founding of the Benedictine monastery in 904; it was greatly increased by the settlement here of large numbers of the people of Bardowiek, destroyed in 1189. Lüneburg afterwards joined the Hanseatic League, and was the capital of an independent duchy. But it lost the greater part of its privileges in the 16th century, and in the 17th suffered much from the Swedes and their enemies. It began to revive again in the 19th century. Near by the Allies defeated the French on 2d April 1813.
The principality of Lüneburg, or rather Brunswick-Lüneburg, existed from 1235 to 1369, from 1373 to 1532, and from 1546 onwards. From the princes of this house is descended the reigning house in Great Britain (see BRUNSWICK).—South of Lüneburg stretches for 50 miles on end the Lüneburg Moor (Heide), a grazing-ground for sheep. It produces also honey, buckwheat, and numerous wild berries, and is largely clothed with fine heather. See History by Jürgens (1891).