Hamburg Tourist Attractions

The Hamburg Museum of Ethnology was founded in 1879 and transferred to its present building in 1915.

Beyond the Grosse Wallanlagen and the Glacischaussee in Hamburg is the Heiligengeistfeld (30 hectares/75 acres), scene of the Domfest, a popular festival held in March-April and November/December.Also in the field are a war memorial/military relic, a football ground, and an indoor swimming pool.

The main axis of the St Pauli district in Hamburg is the Reeperbahn (originally the street of the rope makers), famed for its bars and places of entertainment. In the past its attractions were its striptease joints and its shady hotels renting rooms by the hour, but with the risk of AIDS it has increasingly switched to amusement arcades, discotheques, etc. In Davidstrasse can be seen the legendary Davidswache police station.

To the west of St Pauli in Hamburg, above the high bank of the Elbe, lies the district of Altona, with the once celebrated street of neo-classical houses (now protected as historical monuments) known as the Palmaille. In Museumstrasse, which runs north from the end of the Palmaille, is the Altona Museum (geology; landscape, settlement and economy of Schleswig-Holstein and the Lower Elbe; figureheads of galleons).

To the north of Hamburg's Altona, in the Bahrenfeld district, lies the Volkspark (160 hectares/400 acres; laid out 1914-15 and 1918-20), with play areas and sports grounds, allotments and a swimming pool (open in summer). Here too is the Volkspark Stadium (1951-53; 60,000 seats), built up from rubble from demolished buildings.

Hamburg's Oevelgönne district contains the New Elbe Tunnel and the Museum Harbor.

In Hamburg's northwestern suburb of Stellingen is Hagenbeck's Zoo, excellently laid out on modern lines, with its large stock of animals arranged according to the part of the world from which they come. Most of them are in free-range enclosures ("troparium," dolphinarium).

North of Hamburg's Aussenalster, in the Winterhude district, can be found the Winterhude Municipal Park (Stadtpark), with a Planetarium housed in an old water tower.Planetarium Hamburg opened in 1930 and features the Zeiss planetarium projector "Universarium Mk.9", which projects onto a dome spanning 21 meters.

Harburg, until 1937 an independent town (first recorded around 1140 as Horneburg), lies on the south bank of the Süderelbe, at a point where a ridge of sandy heathland, with the wooded Harburger Berge (Schwarze Berge), comes close to the river. Now incorporated in Hamburg, it is predominantly industrial (oil refineries) and has an important industrial harbor.On the Lämmertwiete, to the north of the Marktplatz (known as the Sand), are a number of 17th and 18th C. half-timbered houses (restored). In Museumsplatz, near the Rathausplatz, is the Helms Museum (prehistory and the early historical period).

Hamburg, like most German cities, lost its opera house to bombs during the war but the stage somehow survived and the starkly modern new opera house was built around it, opening in 1955 with 1,675 seats in a radical design, featuring balconies subdivided so that each seat is close to and facing the stage. There is not a bad seat in the house. The season runs from the end of August until early June with the best chance for getting tickets to nonsubscription, contemporary operas. The box office is open weekdays from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. and 4 - 6:30 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. and 90 minutes before each performance. Tickets go on sale two weeks before the performance or can be ordered in advance by writing to the box office.

The first line of the Hamburg Metro was opened in 1912. The system is made up of 3 lines with 98km of track, 40.6km underground and 37.4km elevated. There are 87 stations. Tickets are interchangeable between all modes of transport in Hamburg.The metro system serves about 175 million people yearly with a rolling stock of 933 cars. During peak hours trains run every 2-5 minutes.

A new three-ailsed brick hall-church was erected in the first hald of the 14th C. and about 1418 a second side aisle was added on the south.

The ancient cargo ship San Diego, once used to transport merchandise from the coast of South America, is now open as a museum.

This church, mainly of 16th C. design, is built in honor of the Princess of Alexandria who was martyred in the 4th C.

The ruined tower of Saint Nicholas has been in its state since the air raid of 1943. It is now a memorial to Nazi persecution and World War II.

Windajmmer Rickmer Rickmers is a large sailing ship that was built in 1896. It is docked at Hamburg and is open as a museum.

A number of events and festivals occur in Hamburg every year.