DEUTSCHLAND	GERMANY
Bundesland: Schleswig-Holstein
Kreis: Herzogtum Lauenburg

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Mölln is situated at an elevation of 13 m in the district Herzogtum Lauenburg, about 30 km south of Lübeck. Mölln has a population of about 18,500 (2004).

Mölln was first mentioned in a document of 1188 which defines the area of influence of Lübeck as reaching "ad stagnum mulne", i.e. as far as the lake of Mölln. In the 13th century, Mölln was chartered as a town. Due to its location at an old salt trading route from Lüneburg to Lübeck the town prospered during the following centuries. Between 1359 and 1683 Mölln was mortgaged to Lübeck and was administered from there. The world's first ship canal that crossed a watershed, the Strecknitz canal between Lübeck and Lauenburg, was built between 1392 and 1398 and soon became the main shipment route for salt in this region. In the 16th century about 800 to 1,500 prams used the canal each year. The canal was used for five centuries before it was replaced by the new Elbe-Lübeck canal, which was built in 1896–1900 and included some sections of the old canal. After World War II the population of the town increased markedly by refugees from the historical Eastern Germany. In 1970 Mölln obtained the official recognition as a cold water cure spa place.

The church of Sankt Nicolai [centre] was built in the early 13th century on a hill in the centre of the historic old town. The three-naved basilica with a massice west tower and a semi-circular apse is a brick construction in late Romanesque style. The south nave was added in 1471, a chapel that today is used as baptistry and the vestry were added in 1497. The oldest item in the church is a stone sculpture of around 1200, the bronze flambeau with seven arms dates from 1436.

According to popular belief, Mölln is the place of death of Till Eulenspiegel, a legendary trickster who played practical jokes on his contemporaries. According to the tradition, he was born in Kneitlingen near Braunschweig in 1300 and is said to have died in Mölln in 1350. A gravestone attributed to him is placed here. The best known version of the Eulenspiegel story is "An entertaining book about Till Eulenspiegel from the land of Brunswick", published anonymously around 1510 in Early Modern High German. The literal translation of the High German name gives "owl mirror". However, the original Low German is believed to be "ul'n spegel", meaning "wipe the arse". More recent works that are based on Till Eulenspiegel are "The legend of Thyl Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak", an 1867 novel by Charles De Coster, and "Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche", an 1894/1895 tone poem by Richard Strauss.