|
| |

| hamburg
germany under construction |
| |
|
|
| 01
Hamburg Rathaus (Town Hall) |
02 Landungsbrücken |
03 Hauptbahnhof |
| |
|
|
| 04
Köhlbrandbrücke |
05
Freihafen Elbbrücken |
06
Old Elbe Tunnel (Alter Elbtunnel) |
| |
|
.jpg) |
| 07
New Elbe Tunnel (Elbtunnel) |
08
St. Michaeliskirche (Saint Michael’s Church, nicknamed “Michel,” like
“Mickey”) |
09 St. Nikolaikirche (Saint Nicolas' Church, memorial) |
| |
|
|
| 10
St. Petrikirche (Saint Peter’s Church, 11th century) |
11
St. Jakobikirche (Saint Jacob’s Church, 13th century) |
12
St. Katharinenkirche (Saint Catherine’s Church, 14th century) |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
St.Johannis, Harvestehude, Hamburg (Saint John’s) at the Außenalster
Heinrich-Hertz-Turm
Transmitter Hamburg-Billstedt
Theatres
Altonaer Theater
Theater Allee
Schauspielhaus
Ernst-Deutsch-Theater
Hansa Theater
Theater im Zimmer
English Theatre
St. Pauli Theater
Schmidts Tivoli
Hamburger Kammerspiele
Imperial Theater
komödie - im Winterhuder Fährhaus
Thalia Theater
Thalia Gaußstraße
Monsun Theater
Theater Imago
Kampnagel Fabrik
Theater für Kinder
Neues Theater am Holstenwall
Theater in der Basilika
Schilleroper
Theaterschiff am Mäuseturm
Ohnsorg-Theater
Rote Flora
Neuengamme concentration camp
Speicherstadt Warehouse district
The Kesselhaus (boiler house)
Landungsbrücken harbour promenade
the Reeperbahn
Hamburg Rathaus (Town Hall) city hall
Hauptbahnhof
Hagenbeck's Tierpark (Zoo)
Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg
|
|
|
Basic Information
Area: 755.16 km²
Population: 1,744,215 source (2005)
Population density: 2,310 residents/km²
Elevation: 3 m above sea level
Postal codes: 20001–20999,
21001–21149,
22001–22609
Area code: +49-40
Latitude and Longitude: 53°33′N 9°59′E
Licence plate prefix: HH
ISO 3166-2: DE-HH
Website: http://www.hamburg.de/
Mayor: Ole von Beust (CDU)

Hamburg's motto: May the posterity endeavour with dignity to conserve
the freedom, which the forefathers acquired.
Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany and with Hamburg
Harbour, its principal port, Hamburg is also the second largest port
city in the European Union and the largest city of the Union which is
not a capital. A large part of the port is a fenced-in duty-free area.
The official name Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (German: Freie und
Hansestadt Hamburg; Low Saxon: Free un Hansestadt Hamborg) refers to
Hamburg's membership in the medieval Hanseatic League and the fact that
Hamburg is a City State and one of the sixteen Federal States of
Germany.
Hamburg is situated on the southern tip of Jutland Peninsula,
geographically centred (a) between Continental Europe and Scandinavia
and (b) between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. The city of Hamburg
lies at the junction of the river Elbe with the rivers Alster and Bille
and the city centre is beautifully set around Lake Binnenalster and Lake
Außenalster.
Hamburg is an international trade city and the commercial and cultural
centre of Northern Germany.
Politics and Administration
The Bürgerschaft (City Assembly) is the parliament of the Free and
Hanseatic City of Hamburg, which is elected by the citizens of Hamburg
every four years.
The Erster Bürgermeister (First Mayor) is head of the senate (which
forms the executive branch of government) and gets elected by the city
assembly and is thus head of the city state. The current mayor is Ole
von Beust (see also List of mayors of Hamburg).

Hamburg Rathaus (Town Hall)
The state and administrative city cover 750 km² with 1.8 million
inhabitants, while another 0.8 million live in neighboring urban areas.
The Greater Hamburg Metropolitan Region (Metropolregion Hamburg)
includes some districts in the adjacent federal states of
Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony and covers an area of 18,100 km²
with a population of just over 4 million.
Hamburg is organised into seven boroughs (Bezirke) comprising 104
quarters (Stadtteile):
Altona
Bergedorf
Eimsbüttel
Harburg
Mitte
Nord
Wandsbek
Three small islands in the North Sea also belong to the City State of
Hamburg: Neuwerk, Scharhörn and Nigehörn.
History
The city takes its name from the first permanent building on the site, a
castle ordered to be built by Emperor Charlemagne in 808 AD. The castle
was built on some rocky ground in a marsh between the Alster and the
Elbe as a defence against Slavic incursion. The castle was named
Hammaburg, where "burg" means "castle".
The "Hamma" element remains uncertain. Old High German includes both a
hamma, "angle" and a hamme, "pastureland." The angle might refer to a
spit of land or to the curvature of a river. However, the language
spoken might not have been Old High German, as Low Saxon was spoken
there later. Other theories are that the castle was named for a
surrounding Hamma forest, or for the village of Hamm, later incorporated
into the city. Hamm as a place name occurs a number of times in Germany,
but its meaning is equally uncertain. It could be related to "heim" and
Hamburg could have been placed in the territory of the ancient Chamavi.
However, a derivation of "home city" is perhaps too direct, as the city
was named after the castle. Another theory is that Hamburg comes from
ham which is Old Saxon for shore.
In 834 Hamburg was designated the seat of a bishopric, whose first
bishop, Ansgar, became known as the Apostle of the North. In 845 a fleet
of 600 Viking ships came up the River Elbe and destroyed Hamburg, at
that time a town of around 500 inhabitants. Two years later, Hamburg was
united with Bremen as the bishopric of Hamburg-Bremen.
In 1030, the city was burned down by King Mieszko II Lambert of Poland.
After further raids in 1066 and 1072 the bishop permanently moved to
Bremen. Hamburg had several great fires, notably in 1284 and 1842.
The charter in 1189 by Frederick I "Barbarossa" granted Hamburg the
status of an Imperial Free City and tax free access up the Lower Elbe
into the North Sea. This and Hamburg's proximity to the main trade
routes of the North Sea and Baltic Sea quickly made it a major port in
Northern Europe. Its trade alliance with Lübeck in 1241 marks the origin
and core of the powerful Hanseatic League of trading cities.
In 1520 the city embraced Lutheranism, and Hamburg subsequently received
Protestant refugees from the Netherlands and France. Hamburg was at
times under Danish sovereignty while remaining part of the Holy Roman
Empire as an Imperial Free City.
Briefly annexed by Napoleon I (1810-14), Hamburg suffered severely
during his last campaign in Germany. The city was besieged for over a
year by Allied forces (mostly Russian, Swedish and German). Russian
forces under General Bennigsen finally freed the city in 1814. During
the first half of the 19th century a patron goddess with Hamburg's Latin
name Hammonia emerged, mostly in romantic and poetic references, and
although she has no mythology to call her own, Hammonia became the
symbol of the city's spirit during this time.
Hamburg experienced its fastest growth during the second half of the
19th century, when its population more than quadrupled to 800,000 as the
growth of the city's Atlantic trade helped make it Europe's
third-largest port.

Hamburg's central promenade Jungfernstieg on River Alster in 1900
With Albert Ballin as its director the Hamburg-America Line became the
world's largest transatlantic shipping company at the turn of the
century, and Hamburg was also home to shipping companies to South
America, Africa, India and East Asia. Hamburg became a cosmopolitan
metropolis based on worldwide trade. Hamburg was the port for most
Germans and Eastern Europeans to leave for the New World and became home
to trading communities from all over the world (like a small Chinatown
in Altona).
After World War I Germany lost her colonies and Hamburg lost many of its
trade routes. In 1938 the city boundaries were extended with the Groß-Hamburg-Gesetz
(Greater Hamburg Act) to incorporate Wandsbek, Harburg, Wilhelmsburg and
Altona. The city counts 1.7 million inhabitants.
During World War II Hamburg suffered a series of devastating air raids
which killed 42,000 German civilians (Bombing of Hamburg in World War
II). Through this, and the new zoning guidelines of the 1960s, the inner
city lost much of its architectural past.
The Iron Curtain—only 50 kilometres east of Hamburg—separated the city
from most of its hinterland and further reduced Hamburg's global trade.
On February 16, 1962 a severe storm caused the Elbe to rise to an
all-time high, inundating one fifth of Hamburg and killing more than 300
people.
After German reunification in 1990, and the accession of some Eastern
European and Baltic States into the EU in 2004, Hamburg Harbour and
Hamburg have ambitions for regaining their positions as the region's
largest deep-sea port for container shipping and its major commercial
and trading centre. Hamburg 2020
February 29, 2004 state election
Ole von Beust was able to form a majority CDU government without the
support of partners. His former coalition partners FDP, Offensive and
Ronald Schill, who split with several friends from the Offensive, failed
to return to the Bürgerschaft.
Economy

Landungsbrücken (“Jetties”), in St. Pauli district
The most significant economic basis for Hamburg in the past centuries
has been (and still is) its harbour (see: Hamburg Harbour), which ranks
2nd in Europe and 9th worldwide with transshipments of 7 million
standard container units (TEU) and 115 million tons of goods in 2004.
International trade is also the reason for the large number of
consulates in the city. Although situated several kilometres up the
Elbe, due to its ability to handle sea ships it is considered a sea
harbour.

Channel between harbour and the inner-city lakes
Other important industries are the aerospace company Airbus, which has
one of its two assembly plants located there, and media businesses, most
notably three of Germany's largest publishing companies, Axel Springer
Verlag [1], Gruner + Jahr [2] and Heinrich Bauer Verlag [3]. About half
of Germany's national newspapers and magazines are produced in Hamburg.
There are also a number of music companies (the largest being Warner
Music Germany) and Internet businesses (e.g. AOL, Adobe Systems and
Google Germany). Heavy industry includes a steel, an aluminium and
Europe's largest copper plant [4], and a number of shipyards like Blohm
+ Voss [5]. Research DESY - Deutsches Elektronen SYnchrotron, the German
Electron Synchrotron
Transport
Hamburg is connected by four Autobahnen (motorways) and is the most
important railway junction on the route to Northern Europe. Hamburg's
international airport is Hamburg Airport, which is the oldest airport in
Germany still in operation. There is also the smaller Hamburg
Finkenwerder Airport.
Though large cities in Germany normally only have a one-letter prefix
(e.g. B for Berlin), Hamburg's vehicle licence plate prefix is "HH" (Hansestadt
Hamburg, English: Hanseatic City of Hamburg), which underlines Hamburg's
historic roots and allows the city of Hanover to use the prefix "H".
As in most larger German cities, public transport is organised by a
fare-collection joint venture between transportation companies. Tickets
sold by one member company in this Hamburger Verkehrsverbund (HVV) are
valid on all other HVV companies' services.
Nine mass transit routes across the city are the backbone of Hamburg
public transport. Three lines comprise the U-Bahn and six the S-Bahn
system. U-Bahn, short for Untergrundbahn (underground, subway), is a
standard German term for a municipally owned, electric mass transit
system. Approximately 41km of 101 km of the U-Bahn lies underground;
most of the U-Bahn tracks are on embankments or viaducts or at ground
level. Older residents still speak of the system as the Hochbahn
("elevated railway"). The Hamburg S-Bahn has a total length of 115.2km
(8km single-track, 10km underground) with 59 stations, of which 10 are
underground. A light rail system, the AKN, connects to satellite towns
in Schleswig-Holstein. Gaps in the mass-transit network are filled by
bus routes, plied by single-deck, two-, three- and four-axle diesel
buses. Hamburg has no trams or trolley-buses, but has hydrogen fuelled
buses operating pilot services.
Finally, regional trains of Germany's major railway company Deutsche
Bahn AG and the regional Metronom trains may be used with a HVV public
transport ticket, too. Except at the three bigger stations in the centre
of Hamburg, the regional trains hardly stop again inside the area of the
city.
A 24-hour bus network operates as frequently as every 2 minutes on busy
routes (30 minutes in suburban areas). There are six ferry lines along
the river Elbe, operated by the HADAG company. While mainly needed by
Hamburg citizens and dock workers, they can also be used for sightseeing
tours at the (relatively) low fees of a HVV public transport ticket.

Hamburg harbour on the river Elbe
Buildings

View of Hamburg
Bridges and Tunnels
Hamburg has a number of prominent buildings from the past and present.
Speicherstadt,
The many canals in Hamburg are crossed by over 2300 bridges — more than
Amsterdam (1200) and Venice (400) combined.
Köhlbrandbrücke
Freihafen Elbbrücken
Old Elbe Tunnel (Alter Elbtunnel)
New Elbe Tunnel (Elbtunnel)
Churches
The skyline of Hamburg features the high spires of the five principal
churches (Hauptkirchen) covered with green copper plates.
St. Michaeliskirche (Saint Michael’s Church, nicknamed “Michel,” like
“Mickey”)
St. Nikolaikirche (Saint Nicolas' Church, memorial)
St. Petrikirche (Saint Peter’s Church, 11th century)
St. Jakobikirche (Saint Jacob’s Church, 13th century)
St. Katharinenkirche (Saint Catherine’s Church, 14th century)
Other churches are also visible in the inner city:
St.Johannis, Harvestehude, Hamburg (Saint John’s) at the Außenalster
Towers and masts
Heinrich-Hertz-Turm
Transmitter Hamburg-Billstedt
Culture

The smaller Alster lake at dusk
Theatres
Altonaer Theater
Theater Allee
Schauspielhaus
Ernst-Deutsch-Theater
Hansa Theater
Theater im Zimmer
English Theatre
St. Pauli Theater
Schmidts Tivoli
Hamburger Kammerspiele
Imperial Theater
komödie - im Winterhuder Fährhaus
Thalia Theater
Thalia Gaußstraße
Monsun Theater
Theater Imago
Kampnagel Fabrik
Theater für Kinder
Neues Theater am Holstenwall
Theater in der Basilika
Schilleroper
Theaterschiff am Mäuseturm
Ohnsorg-Theater—a theatre in which the actors speak Low Saxon (but they
speak Missingsch-infused German for national television broadcasts,
since Low Saxon in not comprehensible to most German speakers)
Dance clubs
- Angie's Nightclub (Soul/Jazz/Livebands)
website
- Change (Gay)(Electronica)
website
- China Lounge (House)
website
- Docks (Trance/Latin/RnB/Mixed)
website
- Cult Club (70s, 80s, Classics)
website
- Echochamber (Reggae/Dancehall/Electro)
website (CLOSED)
- Funky Pussy Club (HipHop/R&B)
Info
- Golden Pudel Club (Electronic/Dancehall/left-wing political events)
website
- Große Freiheit 36 (Mixed)
website
- Grünspan (Mixed/Livebands)
website
- Hafenklang (Mixed/Liveacts)
website
- Kaiserkeller (in the basement of Große Freiheit 36)
- Kir (Alternative/Mixed/Wednesday=Gay)
website
- Logo (Mixed/Livebands)
website
- Lounge (House/Soul/Latin/Lounge)
Info
- Molotow (Livemusic/Clubnights/Rock)
website
- Pit (Gay)(Electronica)(Bondar)
website
- Pacha (House)
website
- Rutsche (Dancehall/Techno/Pop/Rock)
- Superfly (House/HipHop/Mixed)
website
- Tanzhalle (DJs/Liveacts)
website
- Thomas Read (House/Pop/R&B)
website
- Waagenbau (Electronica/Techno/HipHop)
website
- Rote Flora (Mixed-Liveacts/Djs/Left-wing political discussions)
website
- Übel und Gefährlich (Mixed/Livebands/Liveacts)
website
Music
Classical:
Famous organ built by Arp Schnitger (1648-1719)
Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra
North German Radio Symphony Orchestra (NDR-Symphonieorchester)
Famous Composers:
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) died in Hamburg.
Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach (1714-1788, a son of Johann Sebastian Bach)
died in Hamburg.
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) was born in Hamburg.
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was born in Hamburg.
Contemporary: Hamburg is known for giving the Beatles a start in their
musical career in the early 1960s. They played at the Star-Club, which
was located in the district St. Pauli near the perhaps most famous
street of Hamburg, the Reeperbahn.
Sascha Konietzko the frontman and founder of KMFDM is from Hamburg and
visits reguarly.
More recently it is known for some of the most popular German hip hop
acts, such as 5 Sterne Deluxe, Samy Deluxe, Beginner and Fettes Brot.
There is also a quite big alternative and punk scene which gathers
around the Rote Flora, an occupied villa located in the district of
Sternschanze. Some of the musicians of the famous electronic band
Kraftwerk also came from Hamburg.
Hamburg is also famous for an original kind of German alternative music
called Hamburger Schule ("Hamburg School"), a term used for bands like
Die Sterne, Tocotronic, Blumfeld and Tomte.
Hamburg was one of the major centres of the heavy metal music world in
the 1980's. Many bands such as Helloween, Running Wild and Grave Digger
got their start in Hamburg. The influences of these bands and other
bands from the area were critical to establishing the subgenre of Power
metal.

The Lion King theatre in Hamburg’s harbour
Since the German premiere of Cats in 1985 there are always a number of
musicals being played in the city. Among them have been Phantom of the
Opera, The Lion King or Dirty Dancing ( before there was Dance of the
Vampires). This density, which is the highest in Germany, is partly due
to Germany's major musical production company Stage Entertainment being
located in Hamburg. One of the musical theatres is a large tent in the
harbour, guests either arrive by boat or through the historic Old Elbe
Tunnel.
Museums
Museums in Hamburg include:
Altona Museum and North German State Museum [6]
Art Gallery (Kunsthalle Hamburg) [7]
Brahmsmuseum
Bucerius Kunst Forum [8]
Hamburg Museum for Archaeology and the History of Harburg
Neuengamme concentration camp memorial [9]
Speicherstadt Museum [10]
Museum of Hamburg History (Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte) [11]
Museum of Art and Design (Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe) [12]
Museum of Ethnography (Museum für Völkerkunde) [13]
Museum of Labour (Museum der Arbeit) [14]
Cuisine
Although Hamburg is jokingly said to be the birthplace of the Hamburger,
this is just a myth. The hamburger was allegedly named after Hamburg.
Original Hamburg dishes are Bohnen, Birnen und Speck (Low Saxon Bohn,
Peern un Speck, green runner beans cooked with pears and bacon),
Aalsuppe (Low Saxon Oolsupp, often mistaken to be German for "eel soup"
(Aal/Ool ‘eel’), however the name probably comes from the Low Saxon
allns [ʔaˑlns], meaning “all”, “everything and the kitchen sink”, not
necessarily eel. Today eel is often included to meet the expectations of
unsuspecting diners.), Bratkartoffeln (Low Saxon Brootkartüffeln,
pan-fried potato slices), Finkenwerder Scholle (Low Saxon Finkwarder
Scholl, pan-fried plaice), Pannfisch (pan-fried fish), Rote Grütze (Low
Saxon Rode Grütt, related to Danish rødgrød, a type of summer pudding
made mostly from berries and usually served with cream, like Danish
rødgrød med fløde) and Labskaus (a mixture of corned beef, mashed
potatoes and beet root, a cousin of the Norwegian lapskaus and
Liverpool's lobscouse, all offshoots off an old-time one-pot meal that
used to be the main component of the common sailor’s humdrum diet on the
high seas).
Hamburg is the birthplace of Alsterwasser (a reference to the city’s
river Alster with two lake-like bodies in the city centre thanks to
damming), a type of shandy, a concoction of equal parts of beer and
carbonated lemonade (Zitronenlimonade), the lemonade being added to the
beer. Hamburg is also home to a curious regional pastry called
Franzbrötchen. Looking rather like a flattened croissant, the
Franzbrötchen is somewhat similar in preparation but includes a cinnamon
and sugar filling, often with raisins or brown sugar streussel. The name
may also reflect to the roll's croissant-like appearance -- franz
appears to be a shortening of französisch, meaning "French," which would
make a Franzbrötchen a “french roll.” Being a Hamburg regional food, the
Franzbrötchen becomes quite scarce outside the borders of the city; as
near as Lunenburg (Lüneburg) it can only be found as a Hamburger and is
not to be had in Bremen at all.
Ordinary bread rolls—without which a leisurely weekend breakfast in
Hamburg is unimaginable—tend to be oval-shaped and of the French bread
variety. The local name is Rundstück (“round piece” rather than
mainstream German Brötchen, diminutive form of Brot “bread”), a relative
of Denmark’s rundstykke. In fact, while by no means identical, the
cuisines of Hamburg and Denmark, especially of Copenhagen have a lot in
common. This also includes a predilection for open-faced sandwiches of
all sorts, especially topped with cold-smoked or pickled fish. The
American hamburger seems to have developed from Hamburg’s Frikadelle (or
Frikandelle): a pan-fried patty (usually larger and thicker than the
American counterpart) made from a mixture of ground beef, soaked stale
bread, egg, chopped onion, salt and pepper, usually served with potatoes
and vegetables like any other piece of meat, not usually on a bun. (Many
Hamburgers consider their Frikadelle and the American hamburger
different, virtually unrelated “creatures.”)
Demographics
80 % German, 20 % Other ( mostly Turkish, Italian and Polish)
Religion
37 % Protestant, 10 % Catholic, 8 % Muslim, 40 % none
Language
As elsewhere in Northern Germany, the original language of Hamburg is
Low Saxon, usually referred to as Hamborger Platt (German Hamburger
Platt) or Hamborgsch. It is still is use, albeit by a minority and
rarely in public, probably due to a hostile climate between World War II
and the early 1980s. Since large-scale Germanisation beginning in
earnest with in the 18th century, various Low German-coloured dialects
have developed (contact-varieties of German on Low Saxon substrates).
Originally, there was a range of such Missingsch varieties, best known
being the low-prestige ones of the working classes and the somewhat more
“posh” bourgeois Hanseatendeutsch. All of these are now moribund due to
the influences of “proper” German propagated by education and media,
perhaps also because of gradual erosion of the erstwhile independent
spirit and local pride of Hamburg’s population.
In addition, immigration brought numerous dialects from all over the
German-speaking world used to Hamburg, also a large number of foreign
language communities, such as Turkish, Kurdish, Italian, Arabic, Berber,
Persian, Spanish, Portuguese, Serbo-Croatian, Polish, Russian, English,
Scandinavian, Finnish, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Filipino and
numerous sub-Saharan African languages. Furthermore, Hamburg has a
sizeable population of Sinti and Roma (“Gypsy”) people, some of them
sedentary (mostly Sinti) and some of them nomadic or semi-nomadic
(mostly Roma), camp grounds being set aside by the state and municipal
governments. Hamburg is thus one of the few locations in the world in
which both Sinti and Romany are spoken, and it is also one of the major
headquarters of international Roma organisations.
Education
Tourism

Warehouse district 1890

Warehouse district (Speicherstadt)

The Kesselhaus (boiler house)
Hamburg is generally not considered to be a tourism magnet, not even by
locals. Nevertheless, tourism plays a significant role in the city's
economy, and according to the magazine Travelhouse Media even two of the
most visited sites in Germany are located here: the harbour (8 million
visitors per year) and the Reeperbahn (4 million), compared to famous
sites like the Cathedral in Cologne (6 million) or the castle
Neuschwanstein (200,000) unexpected high numbers to most people.
Hamburg is best visited in spring or summer. A typical Hamburg visit
includes a tour of the city hall and the grand church St. Michaelis
(called the Michel), and visiting the old warehouse district (Speicherstadt)
and the harbour promenade (Landungsbrücken). Sightseeing buses connect
these points of interest. Of course, a visit in one of the world's
largest harbours would be incomplete without having taken one of the
harbour and/or canal boat tours (Große Hafenrundfahrt, Fleetfahrt) which
start from the Landungsbrücken. Many visitors take a walk in the evening
around the area of Reeperbahn, considered Europe's second largest red
light district and home of many theatres, bars and night clubs. Others
prefer the laidback Schanze district with its street cafés or a barbecue
on one of the beaches along the river Elbe. And not to forget: Hamburg's
famous Hagenbeck's Tierpark (Zoo) with the great artificial rocka and
the first moated, barless enclosures ever to be built (1907). A friend
of Hagenbeck's, the illustrator Heinrich Leutemann made some
illustrations here.
Quite common is a tour through Northern Germany with Hamburg as a
starting point or stop-over.
However, most people visit Hamburg because of a specific interest,
notably one of the musicals, a sports event, a congress or fair.
Therefore, in 2005, the average visitor spent two nights in Hamburg. The
majority of visitors come from Germany (80%); most foreigners are
European, especially from the United Kingdom and Switzerland, and the
largest group from outside Europe comes from the U.S. An interesting
footnote is the high number of rich guests from the Arabian peninsula,
who seek treatment in one of Hamburg's hospitals.
A more recent attraction is the Miniatur Wunderland Hamburg. This
expanding model railway exhibition had more than 800,000 visitors in
2005 and is reputed to be the largest model railway in the world.
Regular events
For the interested visitor, some events held every year:
Sports (Note that a registration, usually months in advance, is needed
for public races.)
Hamburg Marathon [15] - marathon, open to the public: April
Tennis Masters Series: May
HSH Nordbank Run - open to the public. Race through the HafenCity (HarbourCity):
May
Dragon boat race, open to the public: August
Cyclassics [16] - UCI-ProTour bike race, open to the public: August
Hamburg City Man Triathlon [17] - triathlon, open to the public: August
American Football - A part of NFL Europe, the Sea Devils are based in
Hamburg. They play 10 games against 4 other teams in Germany and one in
Holland between April and June, to contend for a place in the World
Bowl. The team used to be the Scottish Claymores up until 2004.
Film festivals
Filmfest Hamburg [18]: September
Fantasy Filmfest [19]: April
Kurzfilmfestival - International Short Film Festival [20]: June
Lateinamerika-Filmtage - Latin-America Days [21]: December
Spanische Filmtage - Spanish Days [22]: July
Lesbian & Gay Film Festival Hamburg [23]: October
Arts & Exhibitions
International Fireworks Festival: August
Kirschblütenfest - Grand fireworks and Japanese culture: May
Lange Nacht der Museen - one ticket, 40 of Hamburg's museums open until
midnight: May
Theme nights (jungle, romantic, Asian) at Hagenbeck's zoo [24]:
Saturdays in summer
Music
Fleetinselfest - Music and international artists open air [25]: July
G-Move - Techno parade: June
Schlagermove - German 1960's / 1970's music parade [26]: July
Fun / Street Festivals
Alstervergnügen [27] - Alster fair: August
Christopher Street Day (Gay Pride Parade) [28]: June
Hamburger Dom - considered the biggest seasonal theme park in northern
Germany: three times a year
Hafengeburtstag [29]- Hamburg's harbour birthday: May
Motorradgottesdienst - Biker's divine service in Hamburg's largest
church St. Michaelis: June
Links
|
|
www.essential-architecture.com
the architecture you must see
|
|