Werben: The world’s smallest Hanseatic town

 
With a population of fewer than 1,000, Werben is the world’s smallest Hanseatic town today. Where in the past merchant vessels ruled, storks fly towards the town these days, only to make themselves at home on the rooftops of the timbered townscape. Yet it is the strangely oversized church of St. John that gives the visitor a good idea of the significance that Werben held during the Hanseatic era. From here, large amounts of grain for bread and barley for beer were shipped on the river Elbe, headed for Hamburg. A golden age so to speak – not only because of the golden fields, but especially also because of thriving business for mill owners, merchants, and boatmen.