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Hamburg, Germany - Guide

Hamburg Sights & Attractions

1. Kunsthalle

The Kunsthalle’s 3000 paintings and 400 sculptures range from medieval to contemporary, and are augmented by coins and medals that date from the 14th century. Highlights of its collection include an outstanding selection of German Romantic paintings, comprising works by Runge, Friedrich, and Spitzweg. Paintings by Holbein, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Tiepolo, and Canaletto are also on view, while late-19th-century impressionism is represented by works by Leibl, Liebermann, Manet, Monet, and Renoir. The museum also has an entire wing devoted to contemporary art, housed in a post-modern, cube-shape building designed by Berlin architect O. M. Ungers. It features works by Andy Warhol, Joseph Beuys, Georg Baselitz, and David Hockney. Graphic art is also well represented, with a special collection of works by Pablo Picasso and the late Hamburg artist Horst Janssen, famous for his satirical worldview.
A pillared hall at the back of the original 19th century building houses Café Liebermann, Hamburg’s grandest café, and it’s well worth scheduling a stop there for Kaffee und Kuchen (‘coffee and cakes’) or a light lunch.

2. Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte

Hamburg’s premier museum, the Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte is superbly organised, with almost all its information displays in English. It offers a detailed portrait of Hamburg from the 16th century to the present day. On the ground floor are displays from the 20th century, plus the entire history of the arts, fashion and sciences in the city. The Baroque section on the first floor includes a spectacular scale of an 18th century East Indianman ship – the Wappen von Hamburg III – which is so large and detailed as to be a veritable floating palace. On the second floor are a number of intact interiors from grand Hamburg houses, including that at Deichstr. 55, with a series of mid-17th century paintings of Old Testament scenes made after engravings by Matthäus Merian. Under the painted and stuccoed ceiling from Katharinenstr. 9 are displayed some notable canvases, including a Qoudlibet by the late 17th century trompe d’oeil master, Cornelius Gijsbrechts, who later became the royal court painter in Copenhagen. Also in this floor is Europe’s largest model railway, a miniaturization of the area between Hamburg’s Hauptbahnhof and Bahnhof Harburg.

3. St Michaels Church

Hamburg’s city symbol and finest church, St Michaelis is seated on a small hillock, its copper-plated tower visible from most parts of the city. The church was originally built between 1649 and 1661, but has burnt down no fewer than three times since then, though full interior restoration means you can still marvel at its superb northern Baroque elegance. Its greatest asset, however, is the bird’s-eye view of the city from its 82-metre-high tower, making it well worth visiting, even for those not at all interested in ecclesiastical architecture.

4. Reeperbahn

The Reeperbahn, Hamburg’s infamous red light district, was where the city’s rope-makers once lived. Its two main streets – the Grosse and Kleine Freiheit (Big Freedom and Little Freedom) – are so-named not because of the live sex shows you see today, but because in medieval times craftsmen were free to practise their trade there. To a large extent, the surrounding district of St Pauli is still a working-class residential area, with the sex industry confined to the very small area of the Reeperbahn and short streets running off either side, especially those leading towards the port. It was here, of course, that The Beatles played in the very early 1960s, developing the tight musicianship and crowd-pleasing antics that would soon allow them to take over the world. As John Lennon once put it, “I was born in Liverpool, but I grew up in Hamburg.” There seems little doubt that the attractions of the Reeperbahn helped him and his band mates to do so. Though it’s still pretty racy, things have changed a little since then. Trendy bars, theatres and restaurants have muscled in on the more "traditional" entertainment. And with a police station bang in the middle, the area is pretty unthreatening too.

5. Fischmarkt

Open weekly at 05.00, this cavernous wrought iron warehouse is given over to a weekly circus of shopping and selling. It’s supplied straight off the boats so there are stalls piled high with tropical fruit, coffee and spices, Persian rugs, exotic plants and lots and lots of fresh fish. There’s draught beer flowing in the pubs and raw herring sandwiches on a bun to munch on while you browse the stalls, listening to live music courtesy of a jazz band that plays with incredible enthusiasm, given the hour. The clientele tends to be composed of very alert early-bird bargain hunters and bleary refugees from the night clubs who wander around not really taking much in. alike, while stall holders bellow out their sales pitches. The whole spectacle is supposed to finish at 10.00, in accordance with an old law that was to ensure trade didn’t compete with Sunday church services. In fact, it lingers on for a good hour or more, but many of the most colourful traders have sold out by then.