Wednesday, I took the daytrip by train to Hannover. Hannover is the state capital of my home state of Lower Saxony, nonetheless I get to go there very often and if I do, it’s mostly just passing through. I think I haven’t been in the city centre of Hannover for nigh on twenty years, though I’ve been at the expo grounds several times since then. So yeah, time to remedy that and visit the city centre of Hannover.
And yes, Hannover is spelled with two “n” in German, though it has only one in English.
Of course, I also took some photos. You’ll find a selection behind the cut. I’ve decided to split the Hannover in two for server load and friendslist mercy. The first part includes medieval buildings, lots of brickwork and guerilla art. Part 2 will be coming tomorrow:
The Market Church, a 14th century gothic brick church. The ornate lamp in the foreground belongs to a 19th century storefront.
A statue of Martin Luther in front of the Market Church
The Old Townhall of Hannover, another gothic brick building. It’s no longer a municipal building, but houses a bank and a restaurant these days. You’ll see the current townhall in the following post.
A gable of the Old Townhall of Hannover.
Detail of the brick ornaments of the Old Townhall.
The so-called “Marktbrunnen” or Market Fountain in front of the Old Townhall. Getting a clear shot was difficult, because the place in front of the Old Townhall and around the fountain was occupied by an Occupy Hannover camp.
The former “Rathsapotheke” or rather town council pharmacy, a stunning 19th century building right next to the Old Townhall. Nowadays, it houses a jewellery shop.
A unicorn and snake mural above the entrance of the Rathsapotheke. You can also see the old pharmacy sign as well as the new sign of the jewellery shop.
19th century building that once housed the Hannover branch of the Liebig’s Extract of Meat Company, who were the first to offer beef stock cubes in the 19th century. The legacy of Liebig’s lives on in Oxo cubes still found in the UK, but this building now houses a shop specializing in gourmet olive oils.
The Ballhof Platz with the spire of the Market Church in the background. The square gets its name from the fact that it once was a courtyard dedicated to ballgames by the dukes of Hannover. The timbered buildings seen in the background are 1930s recreations of medieval buildings and nowadays house the Ballhof theatre.
The Kreuzkirche or Holy Cross church, a medieval church with a baroque spire built when the original collapsed in the 17th century.
A neat bit of street art at the Ballhof square. The street lamp and the garbage can are covered over and over in colourful price tags.
Close-up of a post covered in price tags.
The price tags are part of an art project, as explained by this article in the German edition of the Financial Times.
More guerilla art. The Kröpcke clock, a 19th century astronomical clock at the Kröpcke Platz, has been given a woolly hat by a group of guerilla knitters.
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These are wonderful–and especially of interest as a friend is there now. (She was a teen during WW II, and lost her mother and sister in the bombings.)
Glad you like them.
Hannover was bombed very badly and many of the buildings in the photos were severely damaged in WWII. The shopping district consists entirely of postwar buildings, because the area was completely destroyed. Though I hope your friend will still see enough that she recognizes.
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Everytime I see guerilla knitting I’m tempted to try it out myself 😀
Me too, though in my case it would probably be guerrilla crocheting, since that what I’m best at.
The townscape was initially designed in the middle of the 19th century by the architect and town planner Georg Friedrich Laves. Some of the buildings that he designated for Hanover are preserved even until this very day such as the opera-house, the Waterloosäule, the palace, parts of the castle (today this is the home of the Parliament of Lower Saxony) and the Laveshaus. Besides the neo-gothic influence which adorns numerous churches in the town, the overall style of Hanover is open eclecticism which is demonstrated in the new town hall built in 1913. One of the most well-known and fascinating parts of the building is the world-renowned dome elevator which brings the visitors in an arched-shaped course to the viewing platform at the top. Once here, visitors are given a fantastic and extensive view of the city from a height of 100m.
I strongly suspect you are a spammer, gold account, but at least your comments are on topic and make sense, so I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt. I did delete your link, however.
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