Why there is a pig bone in Lüneburg Town Hall?
In the
Middle Ages the Hanseatic League town of Lüneburg became very rich due to salt.
The only means of preservation, apart from drying, was won in the Lüneburg
saltworks, known as the Sülze saltworks.
In the Middle Ages the salt water
was heated in the salt pans of the boiling houses until the water had
evaporated and only the salt was left. Master salters, so-called salt masters,
oversaw the extraction and were highly respected. Even today salt still comes out
of the ground in the form of a saline spring and the subject of "salt" is still
a theme to be found throughout the entire town. Read the story of how salt
was discovered: More than 1000 years ago there
was a lot of forest and marsh around Lüneburg. Two hunters were hunting a female
wild boar that was rolling around in the mud. They were lying in wait for the
sow and wanted to bring it down but they failed. Mortally wounded, the sow managed
to flee through the undergrowth in the forest. The hunters immediately followed
the tracks of the wounded animal. In a clearing they caught sight
of the sow, lying dead in the sun. They thought a miracle had taken place as
the bristles of the wild boar had become snow white. They approached it and felt its
coat, mysteriously gleaming in the sun. The hunters noticed that the boar’s
bristles were full of salt crystals. Going back to the place their
hunt had started, where the sow had been wallowing in the mud, they tried the
water and ascertained it was salty. That’s how the first saline pool
was found, later to become the salt source for the Lüneburg saltworks. By the way the boar
was not eaten but preserved in an act of gratitude. One can still
today marvel at the shoulder bone of the salt sow in a glass case in the old
chancery of the Lüneburg Town Hall.
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