Qibla direction in Lübeck

How to face the Qibla in Lübeck

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 44.2° towards south: the result is the bearing of 134.2°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “east” would be off by more than 40°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Lübeck.

Facing the Qibla is a condition of the prayer. Whoever prays inside the Sacred Mosque faces the Kaaba itself; whoever is far away, as in Lübeck, faces its direction and makes a sincere effort to be accurate. Any of the mosques of Lübeck is a handy reference, because the prayer rows were aligned when it was built. Once you know the direction at home, a discreet mark on the wall saves you from checking again.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

A straight line drawn on a flat (Mercator) map from Lübeck to Mecca points to 145.4° (south-east), 11.2° away from the correct 134.2°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 19 km longer than the true shortest route. The Qibla follows the great circle, the shortest path on the curved Earth, which is why the bearing differs.

How is the figure of 134.2° obtained? From the coordinates of Lübeck (53.8689° N, 10.6873° E) and of the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E), spherical trigonometry gives the starting bearing of the great circle joining them. Mosque architects and astronomical Qibla tables rely on exactly the same calculation.

Distance from Lübeck to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 4,364 km from Lübeck as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 4,054 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 5 h 38 min, although most pilgrims from Lübeck connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Lübeck run 2 hours behind Mecca in winter and 1 hour behind Mecca in summer, because of daylight saving time. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Lübeck rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Lübeck

On 315 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Lübeck while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in March (31 days); for example, on 1 February 2027 it happens at 09:19 local time.

The sun is never opposite the Qibla of Lübeck during daylight, so the shadow method does not apply here; the left-hand column is the one to use.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Lübeck: at 11:18 and 11:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Lübeck compared with other cities

Compared with Berlin, 235 km away, the Qibla in Lübeck is turned 2.5° further anticlockwise (134.2° against 136.7°), and Mecca is 234 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Hamburg (58 km), prays towards 133.0°, a difference of 1.2°.

Across the 63 cities in Germany on this site, the Qibla ranges from 124.8° in Freiburg im Breisgau to 136.7° in Berlin, a spread of 11.9°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Germany.

Qibla in cities near Lübeck

• Hamburg133.0° · 58 km
• Kiel133.9° · 62 km
• Rostock136.4° · 98 km
• Bremerhaven131.2° · 143 km
• Bremen131.1° · 153 km
• Wolfsburg133.0° · 161 km