The Merchant House № 66 Engelsgrube over time

“Only those who know the past can understand the present and create the future”

August Bebel, 1840 – 1913

12th century

1143  ​foundation of the City of Luebeck. Since 1226 free imperial city

1157  ​a German merchant’s association mentioned in a ​London document for the first time

13th century

1259  ​street name “Engelsche Grove” in Luebeck for the quarter of “Englandfahrer” ​(ship owners and their families). Since 1369 plate Anglica

1263  ​foundation of the City of Gdansk according to Luebeck law

14th century

1310  ​the warehouse № 66 Engelsgrube first mentioned in the city archives of Luebeck

1350  Brotherhoods of St George are developing in many parts of Europe

1356  ​First “meeting ride” (Hansetag) in Luebeck

1361  ​for the first time the City of Gdansk attends a Hansetag

15th century

1481  ​St Reinholds Bank Confraternity established at Artus Court Gdansk

1482  ​St Christophorus Bank Confraternity established at Artus Court Gdansk

1483  ​Heilige Drei Könige Bank Confraternity established at Artus Court Gdansk

1487  Marienbürger Bank Confraternity established at Artus Court Gdansk

1492  ​Christopher Columbus makes landfall in the Americas

16th century

1532  Georg Giese Hanseatic merchant from Gdansk at the Steelyard painted in London by Hans Holbein the Younger

17th century

1630    Engelsgrube 66 wird als „Rotbruhuus“ (Brauhaus für Braunbier) erwähnt

1669  Last Hanseatic Day

1678  ​First German wine trading house established by Peter Hinrich Tesdorpf in Luebeck

18th century

1807  ​Gdansk becomes a “free City” according to the Treaties of Tilsit

20th century

1919  ​Gdansk becomes a free city again based on the Treaty of Versailles

1945  ​flight and expulsion of the German inhabitants from Gdansk

1980  ​acquisition and reconstruction of the property № 66 Engelsgrube in Luebeck by an association of about 200 former citizens of Gdansk (Danziger Foerderkreis e.V.)

1983  grand opening of the “HAUS HANSESTADT DANZIG” with museum, offices and two rental apartments

1987  ​the house becomes part of the UNESCO „World Heritage List“

Today

2011  ​establishment of the non-profit HAUS HANSESTADT DANZIG foundation

2013  acquisition of the former long lease property by the new foundation

2016 ​the Mayor of the City of Gdansk, Pawel Adamowicz (†), is visiting Luebeck and ​the HAUS HANSESTADT DANZIG

2018  ​Friendship and cooperation agreement with the Confraternities of the Artus Court of Gdansk in Luebeck

2022  ​​extensive conversion and renovation

Press

A look into the past

The Foundation

The initiators around the architect Werner Hewelt chose the dilapidated house Engelsgrube 66, which was acquired by the Hanseatic City of Lübeck as a leasehold in 1980.

After three years of construction and an extraordinary commitment on the part of the association’s members, the house was officially opened on 25 March 1983 with the HAUS HANSESTADT DANZIG museum and several offices and flats.

In order to secure the future of the institution in the long term, the members unanimously decided at the ordinary general meeting on 7 May 2011 to dissolve the association on 31 October 2011 and, after amending the statutes accordingly, to transfer the assets to the HAUS HANSESTADT DANZIG Foundation with legal capacity, which was unanimously approved on the same day.

In 2013, the foundation will acquire the previous hereditary building plot from the Hanseatic City of Lübeck.

At the end of the 1970s, former citizens of the Hanseatic city of Gdansk decided to create a cultural and documentation centre for their old hometown in the Federal Republic of Germany and founded the Danziger Förderkreis e.V., based in Lübeck, for this purpose on 20 January 1979.