The Altstadt (old town centre)

Altstadt (old town)

The Altstadt (old town centre)
Of course, the oldest part of town is the "Altstadt".
At the beginning of the 9th century Charlemagne had built a ring embankment which was named “Hammaburg” (Hamm = shore) because of its proximity to the water.
Where you find the main church St. Petri today, at that time the cathedral was built, the first church of Hamburg founded by bishop Ansgar. And so Karl's son Ludwig decided to make the Hammaburg the seat of its diocese.
The churches are still an important component of the old town today. Apart from the four main churches St. Petri, St. Katharinen, St. Jakobi and St. Nikolai, the image of the old town is marked by the storehouse town, the city hall, the stock exchange and big shopping streets.
The Altstadt, which is situated in the middle of Hamburg’s centre, has 1774 inhabitants. Therefore you have not only commercial buildings here, but a bit of a normal living structure as well, which makes the district a little lively also at weekends and other days off.

Historical streets, bridges and fountain in the Hamburg's Altstadt.

Cremon – the whole fen island between Alster and inland port, which was used as pasture land by the settler since 1188, was named like the street between Nikolai- and Katharinenfleet in the old town. (Cremun - probably one of the land owner, Gottschalk de Cremun, gave this name to the fen island)
There were loft and residential buildings which had a street and a water front each, which made the goods transport much easier
Certainly, the oldest loft buildings of Hamburg stand here today.

Old warehouse buildings in "Cremon", Deichstraße 42, new restaurants, a typical narrow passage to the Fleet (canal)

Deichstraße (Deichstraße = Dyke street)
One can still see a rest of the beautiful old Hamburg in the historical Deichstraße at the Nikolaifleet. Some well maintained merchant family houses of different style stand here - for example the house no. 19, which is decorated very beautifully with neo-Gothic and early renaissance elements.
A plaque in the entrance of the house Deichstraße no. 42 reminds us that here the great fire of 1842 destroyed a third of the town.
Remarkable are the narrow passages between the houses to the canals and also the old buildings in which today you find "characteristic" Hamburg restaurants.

Reimerstwiete no.17–21 (twiete = alley)
The little half-timbering lofts from the 18th century. which had been restored lovingly, express the picture of the narrow alley here.
These, of many old districts typical streets, formed a connection between two main streets of the Cremon island.

Passage to the canal - restored half-timbering warehouses in Reimerstwiete

Trostbrücke (consolation bridge)
The bridge which spans the Nikolaifleet is small but of great meaning for the Hamburg town history. It already got documentary mention in 1266 in the town book.
Since the middle of the 13th century until the great fire of 1842 the bridge was the centre of the Altstadt (old town).
The cause of the name allegedly is that in the city hall sentenced to death criminals got a last consolation and blessing on the bridge.
Today's arch bridge of 1881 is framed by the sculptures of bishop Ansgar and Count Adolf III. of Schauenburg, who had founded the Neustadt (new town) in 1188.

St. Ansgar statue - Laeisz building - Trostbrücke - "Glob-house" - Count Adolf III. of Schauenburg

Zollenbrücke (customs bridge)
Hamburg's oldest still existing stone bridge was built of sandstone in 1633. It is situated in closed neighbourhood to the Trostbrücke Unfortunately the Gröninger Fleet (canal) which used to span the Zollenbrücke, was closed in 1946. The name of the bridge goes back to the custom house of the Count of Holstein, which stood here at that time.
The historical bridge doesn’t fulfil any actual purpose today but is only maintained here for decoration.

Zollenbrücke (customs bridge)

Hygieia-Brunnen (Hygieia Fountain)
Already the outer façade of the city hall is remarkable, the inner courtyard is a pleasure for the observer, who perhaps likes to have a break in his stroll through the old town just now. A three bowl Hygieia fountain with bronze figures and a statue, which represents the health goddess Hygieia, form the center of the pretty little place.

Architect Martin Haller and sculptor Joseph von Cramer formed the goddess of health on a current occasion for the inner courtyard of the city hall - the cholera epidemic of 1892 which demanded more than 8000 deaths had just been overcome, because one improved the hygienic conditions by modernising the drinking water supply.
Now the all over towering Hygieia stands here as a symbol for health.
You reach the inner courtyard by the publicly accessible city hall hallway.

Hygieia statue, a three bowl fountain, the inner courtyard, stock exchange

Hamburger Börse (Stock exchange)
One of the most beautiful buildings in Hamburg was build in the middle of the 19th Century in the style of the late classicism. The stock exchange is seat of the Chamber of Commerce Hamburg and one of the most important addresses in Hamburg.

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Hamburg's main churches