Europe's second biggest port is Germany's richest city, the nation's media centre and a gay mecca.
The maritime, mercantile and media hub of Germany is also the country’s wealthiest city. At home its image as a waterfront sexopolis has been well and truly banished as the infamous Reeperbahn has been cleaned up and marginalised. Now all it needs is for the rest of Europe to catch on.
Sprawling Hamburg is defined by water: three rivers, a system of narrow canals, two lakes (the Inner and Outer Alster) and more than 2,000 bridges. To get an initial feel for the place, go on one of the boat trips around the harbour. English-language tours leave daily at noon from the Landungsbrücken (Brücke 1, +49 40 313 607).
The city centre lies a short walk north of the Elbe. To get another view of it, climb the tower of the most important of Hamburg’s five main churches, the baroque St Michaelis (Englische Planke 1, +49 40 3767 8100). It dates from the 17th century but has since been rebuilt several times. The oldest, the 12th-century St Petri (Mönckebergstrasse, +49 40 325 7400), was also rebuilt after a fire. The nearby neo-Renaissance Rathaus (Rathausmarkt 1, +49 40 428 310) is filled with opulent halls, enough to make the 45-minute tour worthwhile.
Galleries and museums stretch along what is known as the Kunstmeile, or Art Mile, from the main station to Deichtorstrasse by the Elbe. The most important venue is the Kunsthalle (Glockengiesserwall 5, +49 40 428 131 200, www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de), with major artworks, from medieval to modern, as well as a decent contemporary collection in its adjacent Galerie der Gegenwart.
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe (Steintorplatz 1, +49 40 428 542 732, www.mkg-hamburg.de) has a diverse applied arts collection. Near the Rathaus, the Bucerius Kunst Forum (Rathausmarkt 2, +49 40 360 9960, www.buceriuskunstforum.de) hosts excellent temporary exhibitions and has a fine café.
For a taste of Hamburg’s mercantile riches, head for the Chile Haus, between Steinstrasse and Messburg U-Bahn stations just south of the main station. Its exterior was built like the bow of an ocean-going liner by expressionist architect Fritz Höger for a local merchant who made his fortune trading with South America.
Local history
Hamburg developed as a trading city and port from 1189, when Count Adolf III agreed city free trade rights from Emperor Friedrich I. The city became a leading member of the lucrative Hanseatic league, a trading cartel, and boomed until the Great Fire of 1842 destroyed a third of the city. It bounced back to become one of the biggest ports in Europe – the reason why Allied bombers destroyed the harbour and half the city in 1943. Today it is a major working port again, a gay Mecca, a media hub and Germany's richest city.
Local politics
As a Free and Hanseatic City, Hamburg is one of three German City States, with a different political set-up to other towns. Locals elect a City Assembly (Burgerschaft) every four years, who in turn elect a mayor, with similar powers to an American state governor. In Hamburg's case, this is Ole von Beust, of the right-wing CDU, mayor since 2001 but now with a significant majority. It is thought Beust owes this to the pink vote – his popularity soared when he was accused of homosexuality by an outgoing deputy mayor in a political scandal in 2003. Top of Beust's agenda is Hamburg 2020, a wide-ranging plan for urban development, particularly focusing on linking the islands of the south Elbe into the body of the city.
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