The third of Lüneburg's three great medieval brick churches, St. Nicholas was the church of the Wasserviertel — the harbour quarter — and was built by the city's bargemen, fishermen, and salt merchants who needed their own parish away from the patrician Johanniskirche on Am Sande. The current church was begun in 1407.
The interior is the most upward-soaring of the three, a tall and very narrow basilica with a beautiful net-vaulted ceiling on slender brick piers, painted in the original red and white pattern. The most arresting feature is the star vault over the high altar. The 19th-century neo-Gothic spire — visible from much of the old town — replaced the medieval tower in 1900. Free entry; the side aisles hold a number of medieval guild altars rescued from demolished chapels elsewhere in the city.