Little devil near St. Marien

Since 1999, a little devil has had its place on the southern façade of St. Mary's Church. However, unlike other depictions of devils, the statue by Lübeck artist Rolf Goerler is rather cute and not the least bit frightening. There is a good reason for this, as the statue is reminiscent of a Lübeck legend, which goes like this:

After a major city fire in the 13th century, large parts of the city had to be rebuilt, including St. Mary's Church. In order to rebuild the church as quickly as possible, the builders asked the devil for help. However, they tricked him into believing that it was not a church, but a new inn. The devil agreed to help and dragged in large stones. However, when he saw the large, translucent windows, he realized that he had been tricked and grabbed a large granite block to destroy the church walls again. At the last moment, a journeyman was able to appease him by promising to build an inn nearby. The devil dropped the granite block, which still lies next to St. Mary's Church today. The devil sits on it, still smiling happily today, as the Ratskeller, the promised inn near St. Mary's Church, was built almost exclusively for him.