Welcome to the Possehl Foundation

Where we come from

In his will, Emil Possehl, a businessman and senator of Lübeck, bequeathed all his business interests to the Possehl Foundation, which ist now 103 years old.

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Matt Mullican

The Foundation awards four prizes, including the Possehl Prize for International Art. The prizewinner in 2022 was Matt Mullican, whose retrospective could be seen last year in Lübeck.

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What we promote

We support community life in a multitude of ways. Up to 500 applications per year reflect the diversity of the non-profit and benevolent work carried out by the people of Lübeck.

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Nora Siepker convinced the jury with her outstanding dissertation and an entertaining pitch about the “Analysis of the potential of algae harvesting for the remediation of eutrophic lakes”. On 22 February she came first in the competition for the Possehl Engineering Prize 2022, followed closely by Philipp Trabert and Leonard Imhäuser...

Possehl Prizes for Art

NEW CALL FOR PROPOSALS A jury composed of representatives of international art museums and galleries will meet in June 2023 to cast their votes for the Possehl Prize for Lübeck Art 2023. Applications can be sent from 20 January to 17 March – we look forward to receiving many attractive ideas for projects from artists in Lübeck!

Our publications

To mark our jubilee we published a book and a magazine illustrating the history and the current role of the Foundation and the Hanseatic City of Lübeck: “POSSEHL History and Character of a Foundation” by the historian Axel Schildt, and “GUT UND SCHÖN? The Possehl Foundation in Lübeck” by journalists from the economics magazine brand eins Wissen.

Cultural Sparks*

It was in early summer 2020, right at the beginning of the covid pandemic, that the Possehl Foundation launched a broad-based initiative to support culture in Lübeck and entitled Cultural Sparks. Its flexible structure gave independent artists and performers a wide range of opportunities to be creative and innovative. In the current round of grants, the sixth, applicants are again being asked to make their projects as ecologically sustainable as possible.