Gänsemarkt (lit. ''Geese Market'') is a public square in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, located in the Neustadt quarter. The triangular urban square is accessible by streets of

Jungfernstieg The Jungfernstieg () is an urban promenade in Hamburg, Germany. It is the city's foremost boulevard. Location Jungfernstieg mostly lies within the quarter of Neustadt; however at its easternmost it stretches as far as Hamburg-Altstadt. In to ...

from the east, Dammtorstraße and Valentinskamp in the north west and ABC-Straße in the south.

History

The opera building of

Oper am Gänsemarkt The Oper am Gänsemarkt was a theatre in Hamburg, Germany, built in 1678 after plans of Girolamo Sartorio at the Gänsemarkt square. It was the first public opera house to be established in Germany: not a court opera, as in many other towns. E ...

at the square was used from 1678 to 1738. In 1765 the building was demolished and replaced by the

Hamburg National Theatre The Hamburg Enterprise (german: Hamburgische Entreprise), commonly known as the Hamburg National Theatre, was a theatre company in Hamburg (now Germany), that existed 1767–1769 at the Gänsemarkt square, and that was led by Abel Seyler. It was ...

, which had to close in 1769. The theatre employed Gotthold Ephraim Lessing as the world's first dramaturg. Today, the Hamburg State Opera is located a few metres north at Dammtorstraße. Therefore, the Lessing Monument is located in the center of the square. It was created by

Fritz Schaper Fritz (Friedrich) Schaper (31 July 1841, Alsleben – 29 November 1919, Berlin) was a German sculptor. Life He was orphaned at an early age, and was sent to Halle to receive instruction at the Francke Foundations. After being apprenticed as ...

and erected in 1881. On 18 June 1944 the monument was hit by a bomb and it fell from its pedestal. In 1955 it was erected again. The Ufa-Palast, with a capacity of 2,667 once

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

's largest cinema, opened in December 1929 inside the building of . It then also succeeded

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

Ufa-Palast am Zoo The Ufa-Palast am Zoo, located near Berlin Zoological Garden in the New West area of Charlottenburg, was a major Berlin cinema owned by Universum Film AG, or Ufa. Opened in 1919 and enlarged in 1925, it was the largest cinema in Germany until 192 ...

as Germany's largest cinema. For a long time afterwards, it was also Hamburg's biggest cinema. The capacity of the cinema, which was damaged during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and later re-built at the northern edge of the Gänsemarkt square, had been risen to 3,200 in the 1980s. In 2006, the cinema was closed and the newer building was demolished, while the Deutschlandhaus still can be found near the square.Der Ufa-Palast: Als Europas Cineasten auf Hamburg schauten
Hamburger Abendblatt, in German Today, the square is surrounded by shops, the shopping arcades of ''Gänsemarkt Passage'' and some restaurants. The

U-Bahn Rapid transit in Germany consists of four U-Bahn systems and fourteen S-Bahn systems. The U-Bahn commonly understood to stand for Untergrundbahn (''underground railway'') are conventional rapid transit systems that run mostly underground, while ...

station of Gänsemarkt ( U2 line) is located right below the square.

References

External links

Gänsemarkt
Hamburg.de, in German {{DEFAULTSORT:Gansemarkt Squares in Hamburg Hamburg-Mitte