Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte

Opened in 1922 at Holstenwall, the Museum of Hamburg History is Germany's largest museum of urban history today.

If you want to know how the "Missionskastell Hammaburg" became the proud Hanseatic city and the proverbial Gateway to the World you will find what you're looking for at the Hamburg Museum...

The Museum of Hamburg History was founded in 1908 by Fritz Schumacher, the leading Hamburg architect and municipal planning director, on the site of the former Bastion Henricus, a section of the baroque fortifications built between 1616 and 1625 by the Dutchman Jan van Valckenborgh to render the city impregnable. The museum building opened in 1922 on Holstenwall and is today Germany's largest museum of city history. The impressive brick building now has a glass roof covering the inner courtyard. The extensive collection ranges from the beginnings of Hamburg circa 800 to the present.

The permanent exhibition on the 20th century covers 1,000 square metres and documents the changes in home decor and everyday culture in Hamburg, reconstructed in loving detail in rooms from various decades. This includes topics such as "Life during the Kaiser period", "Life under the swastika", "Hamburg in the war" and "Ups and downs in the economic miracle".

On the 1st floor is a replica of a "Kogge" – the quintessential medieval water freighter which can be visited. A further exhibition provides a good insight into the life of the Jewish community in Hamburg.