Founded as a Benedictine monastery in 1376, St. Michael's is the third of Lüneburg's three medieval brick-Gothic churches and the most affecting of them — the long, sloping nave dramatically tilted by salt-related subsidence, the white-painted walls bare since a Lutheran clear-out in the 16th century, and an extraordinary sense of space.
The choir floor visibly slopes downhill, the columns lean outward, and the whole building feels as if it might at any moment slip into the ground. Above the western choir runs a wooden gallery from which the chorister boys of the abbey school once sang the daily offices — including, between 1700 and 1702, the young Johann Sebastian Bach. The organ at the east end is modern but built in historic style. Free entry, open daily; a small leaflet explains the geological history. Look out for the medieval carved tomb slabs reset into the floor of the nave.