Upper balance
The upper scales , also called council scales and market scales , were one of two municipal scales in Lübeck , alongside the lower scales .
The upper balance was on the market for the entire time it was in existence . It is not documented when it was established, but it was listed in the city's revenue register as early as 1262. From then on, it appears continuously in the finance books along with the income from its lease to the respective operator.
The original location of the upper balance was approximately where the Kaak is today, probably a little to the east of it. Nothing is known about the appearance of the building; What is certain is that it had a bell - the so-called cashier's bell or cherry bell - that was used for market activities.
In 1441/42 the building was demolished and the upper balance was housed in rooms in the arcades, which form the ground floor of the town hall's war room, which was built between 1442 and 1444 and which had probably been specifically planned for this use. It remained there until it was abolished in 1871. Its rooms then housed the calibration office until the built-in parts of the arcade hall were removed in 1893.
The iron support of the weighing device, built into an arcade arch, provided with two hooks for attaching weighing mechanisms, remained in place. Today it is located inside the Niederegger Arcade Café, which was set up in the arcades in 2008 .
literature
- Office for the Preservation of Monuments of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (Ed.): The architectural and art monuments of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck. Volume I, Part 2: City Hall and public buildings of the city. Max Schmidt-Römhild publishing house, Lübeck 1974
- Günther H. Jaaks: Technical cultural monuments in Lübeck. In: Der Wagen 1969, Max Schmidt-Römhild Verlag, Lübeck 1969
Coordinates: 53 ° 52 ′ 0.6 ″ N , 10 ° 41 ′ 7.5 ″ E