You’ll again never take salt with, well, a grain of salt after a visit to these exhibits on the site of the old Lüneburg Salt Works, a mainstay of the town’s economy from the 12th century until as late as the mid-1980s. The operations finally closed because salt was more readily available from other sources and the vast salt dome upon which Lüneburg sits was on the verge of collapse (you’ll notice this in the wobbly state of several old structures around town). Most fascinating are the well-done displays showing how briny water was boiled down in huge pans to extract the substance that was then as valuable as gold. This wealth engendered a whole social system of master salters and brought into place a system of salt taxes that would have kept rooms full of IRS and Inland Revenue agents gainfully employed. All this is explained in German panels with some accompanying English translations, and the old buckets, scales, and other equipment are quite fascinating.