In the circular village

1 - Today, Lübeln is one of 18 districts in the municipality of Küsten. Just over 1,300 people live in the municipality, and just over 130 in Lübeln. Küsten is part of the Lüchow collective municipality. Its largest town is Lüchow, which is also the county seat of Lüchow-Dannenberg, one of 38 counties in Lower Saxony. The region where this county is located is called the Wendland.

2 - The small village of Lübeln is a very special place. It consists of a circular village green surrounded by 12 farmhouses. This type of settlement is called a Rundling village. Lübeln also has a chapel dedicated to St. Mary, located just outside the village, as well as a former mill. The village green is about 100 meters in diameter. The farmhouses were built as hall houses, with load-bearing structures made of timber framing. In the past, people lived under the same roof as the farm animals in these houses. They also stored hay and straw there. The hall houses in Lübeln are about 200 to 300 years old.

3 - One of the farmhouses now houses an open-air museum. It shows what life was like in the Rundling villages in centuries past. The museum also has a forge, a wheelwright’s workshop, where wheels, carts and farm equipment were once made, and a bakehouse. They are all still in operation.

4 - There are still about 100 Rundling villages in the Wendland region; many have been abandoned over the centuries. Other well-known villages of this type include Gühlitz, Köhlen, Jabel, Meuchefitz, Satemin, Schreyarn, Bussau, Nienwedel, Thunpadel, Breese, Diahren, Jameln, Loge and Mammoissel.

5 - Circular villages developed mainly in areas once inhabited by the Slavic peoples, also known as the Wends. The Slavs came from Eastern Europe. About 1,500 years ago, they settled in areas abandoned by Germanic peoples during the Migration Period.

6 - It was once customary among the Slavs for farmers to settle in small villages, where houses were built around a circular common. That is why round villages can still be found in areas where Slavs once lived. The peoples have since mixed, but traditions from ancient times still survive.