Hamburg Eimsbüttel Subdivisions

Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and 7th-largest in the European Union with a population of over 1.9 million. The Hamburg Metropolitan Region has a population of over 5.1 million and is the eighth-largest metropolitan region by GDP in the European Union.

At the southern tip of the Jutland Peninsula, Hamburg stands on the branching River Elbe at the head of a estuary to the North Sea, on the mouth of the Alster and Bille. Hamburg is one of Germany's three city-states alongside Berlin and Bremen, and is surrounded by Schleswig-Holstein to the north and Lower Saxony to the south. The Port of Hamburg is Germany's largest and Europe's third-largest, after Rotterdam and Antwerp. The local dialect is a variant of Low Saxon.

The official name reflects Hamburg's history as a member of the medieval Hanseatic League and a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire. Before the 1871 unification of Germany, it was a fully sovereign city state, and before 1919 formed a civic republic headed constitutionally by a class of hereditary Grand Burghers or . Beset by disasters such as the Great Fire of Hamburg, North Sea flood of 1962 and military conflicts including World War II bombing raids, the city has managed to recover and emerge wealthier after each catastrophe.

Major regional broadcaster NDR, the printing and publishing firm and the newspapers and are based in the city. Hamburg is the seat of Germany's oldest stock exchange and the world's oldest merchant bank, Berenberg Bank. Media, commercial, logistical, and industrial firms with significant locations in the city include multinationals Airbus, , , , Lufthansa and Unilever. Hamburg is also a major European science, research, and education hub, with several universities and institutions, including the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron Laboratory DESY. The city enjoys a very high quality of living, being ranked 28th in the 2024 Mercer Quality of Living Survey.

Hamburg hosts specialists in world economics and international law, including consular and diplomatic missions such as the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the EU-LAC Foundation, and the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, multipartite international political conferences and summits such as Europe and China and the G20. Former German chancellors Helmut Schmidt and Angela Merkel were both born in Hamburg. The former Mayor of Hamburg, Olaf Scholz, was chancellor from December 2021 until May 2025.

Hamburg is a major international and domestic tourist destination. The and were declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 2015. Hamburg's rivers and canals are crossed by around 2,500 bridges, making it the city with the highest number of bridges in Europe, and with 5 of the world's 29 tallest churches standing in Hamburg, it is also the city with the greatest number of churches surpassing worldwide. Aside from its rich architectural heritage, the city is also home to notable cultural venues such as the and concert halls. It gave birth to movements like and paved the way for bands including the Beatles. Hamburg is also known for several theatres and a variety of musical shows. St. Pauli's is among the best-known European red light districts.

History

Origins

Claudius Ptolemy (2nd century AD) reported the first name for the vicinity as Treva.

Etymology

The name ''Hamburg'' comes from the first permanent building on the site, a castle which the Emperor Charlemagne ordered constructed in AD 808. It rose on rocky terrain in a marsh between the River Alster and the River Elbe as a defence against Slavic incursion, and acquired the name ''Hammaburg'', ''burg'' meaning castle or fort. The origin of the ''Hamma'' term remains uncertain, but its location is estimated to be at the site of today's Hammaburgplatz.

Medieval Hamburg

In 834 CE, Hamburg was designated as the seat of a bishopric. The first bishop, Ansgar, became known as the Apostle of the North. Two years later, Hamburg was united with Bremen as the Bishopric of Hamburg-Bremen. Verg (2007), p.15

Hamburg was destroyed and occupied several times. In 845, six hundred Viking ships sailed up the River Elbe and destroyed Hamburg, at that time a town of around 500 inhabitants. In 1030, King Mieszko II Lambert of Poland burned down the city. Valdemar II of Denmark raided and occupied Hamburg in 1201 and in 1214. The Black Death killed at least 60% of the population in 1350.
Hamburg experienced several great fires in the medieval period.

In 1189, by imperial charter, Frederick I "Barbarossa" granted Hamburg the status of a Free Imperial City and tax-free access (or free-trade zone) up the Lower Elbe into the North Sea. In 1265, an allegedly forged letter was presented to or by the Rath of Hamburg. Verg (2007), p. 26 This charter, along with Hamburg's proximity to the main trade routes of the North Sea and Baltic Sea, quickly made it a major port in Northern Europe. Its trade alliance with Lübeck in 1241 marks the origin and core of the powerful Hanseatic League of trading cities. On 8 November 1266, a contract between Henry III and Hamburg's traders allowed them to establish a ''hanse'' in London. This was the first time in history that the word ''hanse'' was used for the trading guild of the Hanseatic League. Verg (2007), p. 30

In 1270, the solicitor of the senate of Hamburg, ''Jordan von Boitzenburg'', wrote the first description of civil, criminal and procedural law for a city in Germany in the German language, the ''Ordeelbook'' (''Ordeel'': sentence). On 10 August 1410, civil unrest forced a compromise (German: ''Rezeß'', literally meaning: withdrawal). This is considered the first constitution of Hamburg.

In 1356, the ''Matthiae-Mahl'' feast dinner for Hanseatic League cities was celebrated for the first time on 25 February, the first day of spring in medieval times. It continues today as the world's oldest ceremonial meal.

Early modern period

In 1529, the city embraced Lutheranism, and it received Reformed refugees from the Netherlands and France.

When Jan van Valckenborgh introduced a second layer to the fortifications to protect against the Thirty Years' War in the seventeenth century, he extended Hamburg and created a "New Town" (''Neustadt'') whose street names are still based upon the grid system of roads he introduced.

From the autumn of 1696 to the spring of 1697 the Company of Scotland trading to Africa and the Indies was active in Hamburg. While it was unsuccessful in raising capital locally, it commissioned the construction of four vessels in the port. The ''Caledonia'', a ship of 600 tons with 56 guns, and the ''Instuaration'' (later renamed the ''St. Andrew''), a vessel of 350 tons, were launched in March 1697.

Upon the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Free Imperial City of Hamburg was not incorporated into a larger administrative area while retaining special privileges ( mediatised), but became a sovereign state with the official title of the ''Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg''. Hamburg was briefly annexed by Napoleon I to the First French Empire (1804–1814/1815). Russian forces under General Bennigsen finally freed the city in 1814. Hamburg re-assumed its pre-1811 status as a city-state in 1814. The Vienna Congress of 1815 confirmed Hamburg's independence and it became one of 39 sovereign states of the German Confederation (1815–1866).

In 1842, about a quarter of the inner city was destroyed in the " Great Fire". The fire started on the night of 4 May and was not extinguished until 8 May. It destroyed three churches, the town hall, and many other buildings, killing 51 people and leaving an estimated 20,000 homeless. Reconstruction took more than 40 years.

After periodic political unrest, particularly in 1848, Hamburg adopted in 1860 a semidemocratic constitution that provided for the election of the Senate, the governing body of the city-state, by adult taxpaying males. Other innovations included the separation of powers, the separation of Church and State, freedom of the press, of assembly and association. Hamburg became a member of the North German Confederation (1866–1871) and of the German Empire (1871–1918), and maintained its self-ruling status during the Weimar Republic (1919–1933). Hamburg acceded to the German Customs Union or Zollverein in 1888, the last (along with Bremen) of the German states to join. The city experienced its fastest growth during the second half of the 19th century when its population more than quadrupled to 800,000 as the growth of the city's Atlantic trade helped make it Europe's second-largest port. The Hamburg-America Line, with Albert Ballin as its director, became the world's largest transatlantic shipping company around the start of the 20th century. Shipping companies sailing to South America, Africa, India and East Asia were based in the city. Hamburg was the departure port for many Germans and Eastern Europeans to emigrate to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Trading communities from all over the world established themselves there.

A major outbreak of cholera in 1892 was badly handled by the city government, which retained an unusual degree of independence for a German city. About 8,600 died in the largest German epidemic of the late 19th century, and the last major cholera epidemic in a major city of the Western world.

Second World War

Hamburg was a within the administrative division of Nazi Germany from 1934 until 1945. During the Second World War, the Allied bombing of Hamburg devastated much of the city and the harbour. On 23 July 1943, the Royal Air Force (RAF) and United States Army Air Force firebombing created a firestorm which spread from the (main railway station) and quickly moved south-east, completely destroying entire boroughs such as Hammerbrook, Billbrook and Hamm South. Thousands of people perished in these densely populated working class boroughs. The raids, codenamed Operation Gomorrah by the RAF, killed at least 42,600 civilians; the precise number is not known. About one million civilians were evacuated in the aftermath of the raids. While some of the boroughs destroyed were rebuilt as residential districts after the war, others such as Hammerbrook were entirely developed into office, retail and limited residential or industrial districts.

The Hamburg Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery is in the greater Ohlsdorf Cemetery in the north of Hamburg.

At least 42,900 people are thought to have perished in the Neuengamme concentration camp (about outside the city in the marshlands), mostly from epidemics and in the destruction of Kriegsmarine vessels housing evacuees at the end of the war.

Systematic deportations of Jewish Germans and Gentile Germans of Jewish descent started on 18 October 1941. These were all directed to ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe or to concentration camps. Most deported persons perished in the Holocaust. By the end of 1942, the ''Jüdischer Religionsverband in Hamburg'' was dissolved as an independent legal entity and its remaining assets and staff were assumed by the Reich Association of Jews in Germany (District Northwest). On 10 June 1943, the Reich Security Main Office dissolved the association by a decree. The few remaining employees not somewhat protected by a mixed marriage were deported from Hamburg on 23 June to Theresienstadt, where most of them perished. About 7800 Hamburg Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, of the nearly 17 thousand who had lived in the city before Hitler's rise to power.

Post-war history

The city was surrendered to British Forces on 3 May 1945, in the Battle of Hamburg, three days after Adolf Hitler's death. After the Second World War, Hamburg formed part of the British Zone of Occupation; it became a state of West Germany in 1949.

On 16 February 1962, a North Sea flood caused the Elbe to rise to an all-time high, inundating one-fifth of Hamburg and killing more than 300 people.

The inner German border – only east of Hamburg – separated the city from most of its hinterland and reduced Hamburg's global trade. Since German reunification in 1990, and the accession of several Central European and Baltic countries into the European Union in 2004, the Port of Hamburg has restarted ambitions for regaining its position as the region's largest deep-sea port for container shipping and its major commercial and trading centre.

Geography

Hamburg is at a sheltered natural harbour on the southern fanning-out of the Jutland Peninsula, between Continental Europe to the south and Scandinavia to the north, with the North Sea to the west and the Baltic Sea to the northeast. It is on the River Elbe at its confluence with the Alster and Bille. The city centre is around the Binnenalster ("Inner Alster") and Außenalster ("Outer Alster"), both formed by damming the River Alster to create lakes. The islands of Neuwerk, Scharhörn, and Nigehörn, away in the Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park, are also part of the city of Hamburg.

The neighbourhoods of Neuenfelde, Cranz, Francop and Finkenwerder are part of the ''Altes Land'' (old land) region, the largest contiguous fruit-producing region in Central Europe. Neugraben-Fischbek has Hamburg's highest elevation, the Hasselbrack at AMSL. Hamburg borders the states of Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony.

Climate

Hamburg has an oceanic climate (Köppen: ''Cfb''; Trewartha: ''Dobk''), influenced by its proximity to the coast and maritime influences that originate over the Atlantic Ocean. The location in the north of Germany provides extremes greater than typical marine climates, but definitely in the category due to the prevailing westerlies. Nearby wetlands enjoy a maritime temperate climate. The amount of snowfall has varied greatly in recent decades. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, heavy snowfall sometimes occurred, the winters of recent years have been less cold, with snowfall just a few days per year.

The warmest months are June, July, and August, with high temperatures of . The coldest are December, January, and February, with low temperatures of . The annual extreme temperatures range from on 13 February 1940, to on 20 July 2022, and the latter was measured at Hamburg-Neuwiedenthal Meteorological Station, on the same day, a high temperature record of was recorded at Hamburg Airport.

Demographics

On 31 December 2016, there were 1,860,759 people registered as living in Hamburg in an area of . The population density was . The metropolitan area of the Hamburg region (Hamburg Metropolitan Region) is home to 5,107,429 living on .

There were 915,319 women and 945,440 men in Hamburg. For every 1,000 females, there were 1,033 males. In 2015, there were 19,768 births in Hamburg (of which 38.3% were to unmarried women); 6422 marriages and 3190 divorces, and 17,565 deaths. In the city, 16.1% of the population was under the age of 18, while 18.3% was 65 years of age or older. There were 356 people in Hamburg over the age of 100.Bevölkerung in Hamburg am 31.12.2016
statistik-nord.de (in German) Retrieved 27 June 2023

According to the Statistical Office for Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, there were 631,246 residents with a migrant background, representing 34% of the population.Bevölkerung mit Migrationshintergrund in den Hamburger Stadtteilen Ende 2016
statistik-nord.de (in German) Retrieved 27 June 2023 Immigrants come from 200 countries. 5,891 people have acquired German cititzenship in 2016.Statistisches Jahrbuch. Hamburg 2016
statistik-nord.de (in German) Retrieved 27 June 2023

In 2016, there were 1,021,666 households, of which 17.8% had children under the age of 18; 54.4% of all households were made up of singles. 25.6% of all households were single parent households. The average household size was 1.8.Selectable data base:

Portuguese community

Hamburg has the largest Portuguese community in Germany; the city is home to about 30,000 people of Portuguese heritage. Many Portuguese sailors and merchants came to Hamburg beginning in the 15th century due to its port. Since the 1970s, there has been a district in Hamburg called the (Portuguese quarter) where many Portuguese people settled and which has a variety of Portuguese restaurants, cafes and shops that attract many tourists. There are several statues, squares and streets in Hamburg that are named after Portuguese historical figures. These include the Vasco da Gama statue on the Kornhaus bridge, which was suggested by Portuguese residents to bring visibility to the Portuguese community in Hamburg.

Afghan community

Hamburg's Afghan community of about 50,000 people is the largest not only in Germany, but also in Europe. They first came to Hamburg in the 1970s before expanding during the Afghan conflict in the 1980s and 1990s where many Afghan migrants chose to live in Hamburg. After 2015 the Afghan population almost doubled due to a new influx from the migrant crisis. There is an area in Hamburg behind the central station where many Afghan restaurants and shops are located. Many carpet businesses in Speicherstadt are operated by Afghan traders, with Hamburg still a global leader in the trade of oriental rugs.

Foreign residents

The breakdown of all Hamburg residents with foreign citizenship (as of 31 December 2016) by their continent of origin is as follows:

Language

As elsewhere in Germany, Standard German is spoken in Hamburg, but as typical for northern Germany, the original language of Hamburg is Low German, usually referred to as ''Hamborger Platt'' (German ''Hamburger Platt'') or '' Hamborgsch''. Since large-scale standardisation of the German language beginning in earnest in the 18th century, various Low German-coloured dialects have developed (contact-varieties of German on Low Saxon substrates). Originally, there was a range of such Missingsch varieties, the best-known being the low-prestige ones of the working classes and the somewhat more bourgeois ''Hanseatendeutsch'' (Hanseatic German), although the term is used in appreciation. All of these are now moribund due to the influences of Standard German used by education and media. However, the former importance of Low German is indicated by several songs, such as the sea shanty Hamborger Veermaster, written in the 19th century when Low German was used more frequently. Many toponyms and street names reflect Low Saxon vocabulary, partially even in Low Saxon spelling, which is not standardised, and to some part in forms adapted to Standard German.

Religion

In 2018, 65.2% of the population was not religious or adhered to religions other than the Evangelical Church or Catholicism.

In 2018, 24.9% of the population belonged to the North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church, the largest religious body, and 9.9% to the Roman Catholic Church. Hamburg is the seat of one of the three bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany, as well as of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hamburg.

According to the publication ("''Muslim life in Germany''"), an estimated 141,900 Muslim migrants (from nearly 50 countries of origin) lived in Hamburg in 2008. About three years later (May 2011) calculations based on census data for 21 countries of origin resulted in a figure of about 143,200 Muslim migrants in Hamburg, making up 8.4% percent of the population. , there were more than 50 mosques in the city, including the Ahmadiyya run Fazle Omar Mosque, which is the oldest in the city, and which hosts the Islamic Centre Hamburg.

A Jewish Community also exists. As of 2022, around 2,500 Jews live in Hamburg.

Government

The city of Hamburg is one of 16 German states, therefore the Mayor of Hamburg's office corresponds more to the role of a minister-president than to that of a city mayor. As a German state government, it is responsible for public education, correctional institutions and public safety; as a municipality, it is additionally responsible for libraries, recreational facilities, sanitation, water supply and welfare services.

Since 1897, the seat of the government has been Hamburg City Hall (Hamburg Rathaus), with the office of the mayor, the meeting room for the Senate and the floor for the Hamburg Parliament. From 2001 until 2010, the mayor of Hamburg was Ole von Beust, who governed in Germany's first statewide "black-green" coalition, consisting of the conservative CDU Hamburg and the alternative GAL, which are Hamburg's regional wing of the Alliance 90/The Greens party. Von Beust was briefly succeeded by Christoph Ahlhaus in 2010, but the coalition broke apart on 28 November 2010. On 7 March 2011 Olaf Scholz (SPD) became mayor. After the 2015 election the SPD and the Alliance 90/The Greens formed a coalition.

Boroughs

Hamburg is made up of seven boroughs (German: ''Bezirke''), which are subdivided into 104 quarters (German: ''Stadtteile''). There are 181 localities (German: ''Ortsteile''). The urban organisation is regulated by the Constitution of Hamburg and several laws.Borough Administration Act Most of the quarters were former independent cities, towns or villages annexed into Hamburg proper. The last large annexation was done through the Greater Hamburg Act of 1937, when the cities Altona, Harburg, and Wandsbek were merged into the state of Hamburg.Greater Hamburg Act The ''Act of the Constitution and Administration of Hanseatic city of Hamburg'' established Hamburg as a state and a municipality.Reich Act of the Constitution and Administration of Hanseatic city of Hamburg Some of the boroughs and quarters have been rearranged several times.

Each borough is governed by a Borough Council (German: ''Bezirksversammlung'') and administered by a Municipal Administrator (German: ''Bezirksamtsleiter''). The boroughs are not independent municipalities: their power is limited and subordinate to the Senate of Hamburg. The borough administrator is elected by the Borough Council and thereafter requires confirmation and appointment by Hamburg's Senate. The quarters have no governing bodies of their own.

Following the latest territorial reform of March 2008, the boroughs are Hamburg-Mitte, Altona, Eimsbüttel, Hamburg-Nord, Wandsbek, Bergedorf, and Harburg.

''Hamburg-Mitte'' ("Hamburg Centre") covers mostly the urban centre of the city and consists of the quarters Billbrook, Billstedt, Borgfelde, Finkenwerder, HafenCity, Hamm, Hammerbrook, Horn, Kleiner Grasbrook, Neuwerk, Rothenburgsort, St. Georg, St. Pauli, Steinwerder, Veddel, Waltershof, and Wilhelmsburg. The quarters Hamburg-Altstadt ("old town") and Neustadt ("new town") are the historical origin of Hamburg.

'' Altona'' is the westernmost urban borough, on the right bank of the Elbe river. From 1640 to 1864, Altona was under the administration of the Danish monarchy. Altona was an independent city until 1937. Politically, the following quarters are part of Altona: Altona-Altstadt, Altona-Nord, Bahrenfeld, Ottensen, Othmarschen, Groß Flottbek, Osdorf, Lurup, Nienstedten, Blankenese, Iserbrook, Sülldorf, Rissen, and Sternschanze'' consists of the quarters Allermöhe, Altengamme, Bergedorf—the centre of the former independent town, Billwerder, Curslack, Kirchwerder, Lohbrügge, Moorfleet, Neuengamme, Neuallermöhe, Ochsenwerder, Reitbrook, Spadenland, and Tatenberg.

''Eimsbüttel'' is split into nine quarters: Eidelstedt, Eimsbüttel, Harvestehude, Hoheluft-West, Lokstedt, Niendorf, Rotherbaum, Schnelsen, and Stellingen. Located within this borough is former Jewish neighbourhood of Grindel.

''Hamburg-Nord'' contains the quarters Alsterdorf, Barmbek-Nord, Barmbek-Süd, Dulsberg, Eppendorf, Fuhlsbüttel, Groß Borstel, Hoheluft-Ost, Hohenfelde, Langenhorn, Ohlsdorf with Ohlsdorf cemetery, Uhlenhorst, and Winterhude.

'' Harburg'' is situated on the southern shores of the river Elbe and covers parts of the port of Hamburg, residential and rural areas, and some research institutes. The quarters are Altenwerder, Cranz, Eißendorf, Francop, Gut Moor, Harburg, Hausbruch, Heimfeld, Langenbek, Marmstorf, Moorburg, Neuenfelde, Neugraben-Fischbek, Neuland, Rönneburg, Sinstorf, and Wilstorf.

''Wandsbek'' is divided into the quarters Bergstedt, Bramfeld, Duvenstedt, Eilbek, Farmsen-Berne, Hummelsbüttel, Jenfeld, Lemsahl-Mellingstedt, Marienthal, Poppenbüttel, Rahlstedt, Sasel, Steilshoop, Tonndorf, Volksdorf, Wandsbek, Wellingsbüttel, and Wohldorf-Ohlstedt.

Cityscape

Architecture

Hamburg has architecturally significant buildings in a wide range of styles and just one skyscraper under construction (see List of tallest buildings in Hamburg). Churches are important landmarks, such as St Nicholas', which for a short time in the 19th century was the world's tallest building. The skyline features the tall spires of the most important churches (''Hauptkirchen'') St Michael's (nicknamed "Michel"), St Peter's, St James's (''St. Jacobi''), and St. Catherine's covered with copper plates, and the Heinrich-Hertz-Turm, the radio and television tower (no longer publicly accessible).

The many streams, rivers, and canals are crossed by some 2,500 bridges, more than London, Amsterdam, and Venice put together. Hamburg has more bridges inside its city limits than any other city in the world. The Köhlbrandbrücke, Freihafen Elbbrücken, Lombardsbrücke, and Kennedybrücke dividing Binnenalster from Aussenalster are important roadways.

The town hall is a richly decorated Neo-Renaissance building finished in 1897.
The tower is high. Its façade, long, depicts the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, since Hamburg was, as a Free Imperial City, only under the sovereignty of the emperor. The Chilehaus, a brick expressionist office building built in 1922 and designed by architect Fritz Höger, is shaped like an ocean liner.

Europe's largest urban development since 2008, the HafenCity, will house about 15,000 inhabitants and 45,000 workers. The plan includes designs by Rem Koolhaas and Renzo Piano. The Elbphilharmonie ''(Elbe Philharmonic Hall)'', opened in January 2017, houses concerts in a sail-shaped building on top of an old warehouse, designed by architects ''Herzog & de Meuron''.

The many parks are distributed over the whole city, which makes Hamburg a very verdant city. The biggest parks are the '' Stadtpark'', the Ohlsdorf Cemetery, and Planten un Blomen. The '' Stadtpark'', Hamburg's "Central Park", has a great lawn and a huge water tower, which houses one of Europe's biggest planetaria. The park and its buildings were designed by Fritz Schumacher in the 1910s.

Parks and gardens

The lavish and spacious ''Planten un Blomen'' park (Low German dialect for "plants and flowers") located in the centre of Hamburg is the green heart of the city. Within the park are various thematic gardens, the biggest Japanese garden in Germany, and the ''Alter Botanischer Garten Hamburg'', which is a historic botanical garden that now consists primarily of greenhouses.

The ''Botanischer Garten Hamburg'' is a modern botanical garden maintained by the University of Hamburg. Besides these, there are many more parks of various sizes. In 2014 Hamburg celebrated a birthday of park culture, where many parks were reconstructed and cleaned up. Moreover, every year there are water-light-concerts in the ''Planten un Blomen'' park, from May to early October.

Culture

From the 1760s, the theatre director Abel Seyler—the leader of the Hamburg National Theatre and subsequently the Seyler Theatre Company—established Hamburg as one of the leading European centres of theatrical innovation, promoting experimental productions and pioneering a new more realist style of acting, introducing Shakespeare to a German language audience, and promoting the concept of a national theatre in the tradition of Ludvig Holberg, the Sturm und Drang playwrights, and serious German opera.

Today Hamburg has more than 40 theatres, 60 museums, and 100 music venues and clubs. With 6.6 music venues per 100,000 inhabitants, Hamburg has the second-highest density of music venues of Germany's largest cities, after Munich and ahead of Cologne and Berlin. In 2005, more than 18 million people visited concerts, exhibitions, theatres, cinemas, museums, and cultural events, and 8,552 taxable companies (average size: 3.16 employees) were engaged in the culture sector, which includes music, performing arts, and literature. The creative industries represent almost one-fifth of all companies in Hamburg.
Hamburg has entered the European Green Capital Award scheme, and was awarded the title of European Green Capital for 2011.

Theatres

Theatres in the city include the state-owned ''Deutsches Schauspielhaus'', the Thalia Theatre, Ohnsorg Theatre, "Schmidts Tivoli", and the ''Kampnagel''.

The English Theatre of Hamburg, near the U3 station Mundsburg, was founded in 1976 and is the oldest professional English-language theatre in Germany, with exclusively English-speaking actors in its company.

Museums

Hamburg has several large museums and galleries showing classical and contemporary art, for example the Kunsthalle Hamburg with its contemporary art gallery (''Galerie der Gegenwart''), the '' Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe'' (Museum of Art and Design), and the Deichtorhallen (with the House of Photography and Hall of Contemporary Art). The Internationales Maritimes Museum Hamburg opened in the HafenCity quarter in 2008. There are various specialised museums in Hamburg, such as the ''Archäologisches Museum Hamburg'' (Hamburg Archaeological Museum) in the Harburg borough, the Hamburg Museum of Work (''Museum der Arbeit''), and several museums of local history, such as the (''Freilichtmuseum am Kiekeberg'') at Kiekeberg in the Harburg Hills, just outside of Hamburg, in Rosengarten. Two museum ships near St. Pauli Piers (''Landungsbrücken'') bear witness to the freight ship (''Cap San Diego'') and cargo sailing ship era (''Rickmer Rickmers''). In 2017 the Hamburg-built iron-hulled sailing ship ''Peking'' returned to the city and was installed in the German Port Museum in 2020. The world's largest model railway museum, Miniatur Wunderland, with total railway length, is also situated near St. Pauli Piers in a former warehouse.

BallinStadt, a memorial park and former emigration station, is dedicated to the millions of Europeans who emigrated to North and South America between 1850 and 1939. Visitors descending from those overseas emigrants may search for their ancestors at computer terminals.

Music

Hamburg State Opera is a leading opera company. Its orchestra is the Philharmoniker Hamburg. The city's other major orchestra is the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra. The main concert venue is the new concert hall Elbphilharmonie. Before it was the Laeiszhalle, ''Musikhalle Hamburg''. The Laeiszhalle also houses a third orchestra, the Hamburger Symphoniker. György Ligeti and Alfred Schnittke taught at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg.

Hamburg is the birthplace of Johannes Brahms, who spent his formative early years in the city, and the birthplace and home of waltz composer Oscar Fetrás, who wrote the "Mondnacht auf der Alster" waltz.

Since the German premiere of ''Cats'' in 1986, there have always been musicals running, including ''The Phantom of the Opera'', ''The Lion King'', ''Dirty Dancing'', and ''Dance of the Vampires (musical)''. This density, the highest in Germany, is partly due to the major musical production company ''Stage Entertainment'' being based in the city.

In addition to musicals, opera houses, concert halls, and theatres, the cityscape is characterised by a large music scene. This includes, among other things, over 100 music venues, several annual festivals and over 50 event organisers based in Hamburg. Larger venues include the Barclaycard Arena, the Bahrenfeld harness racing track, and Hamburg City Park.

Hamburg was an important centre of rock music in the early 1960s. The Beatles lived and played in Hamburg from August 1960 to December 1962. They proved popular and gained local acclaim. Prior to the group's initial recording and widespread fame, Hamburg provided residency and performing venues for the band during the time they performed there. One of the venues they performed at was the Star Club on St. Pauli.

Pop musicians from Hamburg include Udo Lindenberg, Deichkind, and Jan Delay. The singer Annett Louisan lives in the city.

An important meeting place for Hamburg musicians from the 1970s to the mid-1980s was the jazz pub Onkel Pö, which was originally founded in the Pöseldorf neighbourhood and later moved to Eppendorf. Many musicians who were counted as part of the "" met here. In addition to Udo Lindenberg, these included Otto Waalkes, Hans Scheibner and groups such as Torfrock and Frumpy. One of the members of the band Frumpy was the Hamburg-born singer and composer Inga Rumpf.

Hamburg is the origin of the "Hamburger Schule", a term used for alternative music bands like Tocotronic, Blumfeld, Tomte or Kante. The meeting point of the Hamburg School was long considered to be the in Altona's old town, near the Fischmarkt. Alongside clubs such as the Pal, the Moondoo or the Waagenbau, today the Pudel is a central location of the Hamburg electro scene. Artists of this scene include the DJ duo Moonbootica, Mladen Solomun, and Helena Hauff.

Hamburg is also home to many music labels, music distributors and publishers. These include Warner Music, Kontor Records, PIAS, Edel SE & Co. KGaA, Believe Digital, and Indigo. The high proportion of independent labels in the city, which include Audiolith, Dial Records, Grand Hotel van Cleef, among others, is striking. Before its closure, the label L'Âge d'or also belonged to these.

In addition, Hamburg has a considerable alternative and punk scene, which gathers around the Rote Flora, a squatted former theatre located in the Sternschanze in the 1980s. Helloween, Gamma Ray, Running Wild, and Grave Digger started in Hamburg. The industrial rock band KMFDM was also formed in Hamburg, initially as a performance art project. The influences of these and other bands from the area helped establish the subgenre of power metal.

In the late 1990s, Hamburg was considered one of the strongholds of the German hip-hop scene. Bands like Beginner shaped the city's hip-hop style and made it a serious location for the hip-hop scene through songs like "Hamburg City Blues". In addition to Beginner, German hip-hop acts from Hamburg include Fünf Sterne Deluxe, Samy Deluxe, Fettes Brot, and 187 Strassenbande.

Hamburg has a vibrant psychedelic trance community, with record labels such as Spirit Zone.

Festivals and regular events

Hamburg is noted for several festivals and regular events. Some of them are street festivals, such as the LGBT pride ''Hamburg Pride'' festival or the Alster fair (German: '' Alstervergnügen''), held at the ''Binnenalster''. The '' Hamburger DOM'' is northern Germany's biggest funfair, held three times a year. ''Hafengeburtstag'' is a funfair to honour the birthday of the port of Hamburg with a party and a ship parade. The annual biker's service in Saint Michael's Church attracts tens of thousands of bikers. Christmas markets in December are held at the Hamburg Rathaus square, among other places. The ''long night of museums'' (German: ''Lange Nacht der Museen'') offers one entrance fee for about 40 museums until midnight. The sixth ''Festival of Cultures'' was held in September 2008, celebrating multi-cultural life. The Filmfest Hamburg — a film festival originating from the 1950s ''Film Days'' (German: ''Film Tage'') — presents a wide range of films. The '' Hamburg Messe and Congress'' offers a venue for trade shows, such ''hanseboot'', an international boat show, or ''Du und deine Welt'', a large consumer products show. Regular sports events—some open to pro and amateur participants—are the cycling competition EuroEyes Cyclassics, the Hamburg Marathon, the biggest marathon in Germany after Berlin, the tennis tournament Hamburg Masters, and equestrian events like the Deutsches Derby.

Hamburg is also known for its music and festival culture. For example, the Reeperbahn alone has between 25 and 30 million visitors every year. In addition, there are over a million visitors to the annual festivals and major music events. Hamburg's festivals include th
Elbjazz Festival
, which takes place 2 days a year (usually on the Whitsun weekend) in Hamburg's harbour and HafenCity.

For contemporary and experimental music, the
blurred edges
" festival usually follows in May at various venues within Hamburg. In mid-August, the MS Dockville music and arts festival has run annually since 2007 in the Wilhelmsburg district. This is followed at the end of September by the , which has been running since 2006. As Europe's largest club festival, it offers several hundred program points around the Reeperbahn in Hamburg over four days and is one of the most important meeting places for the music industry worldwide. In November, the ÜBERJAZZ Festival, which aims to expand the stylistic boundaries of the concept of jazz, starts every year at Kampnagel.

Cuisine

Original Hamburg dishes include ''Birnen, Bohnen und Speck'' (green beans cooked with pears and bacon). ''Aalsuppe'' (Hamburgisch ''Oolsupp'') is often mistaken to be German for "eel soup" (''Aal''/''Ool'' translated 'eel'), but the name probably comes from the Low Saxon ''allns'' , meaning "all", "everything and the kitchen sink", not necessarily eel. Today eel is often included to meet the expectations of unsuspecting diners. There is ''Bratkartoffeln'' ( pan-fried potato slices), ''Finkenwerder Scholle'' (Low Saxon ''Finkwarder Scholl'', pan-fried plaice), ''Pannfisch'' (pan-fried fish with mustard sauce), ''Rote Grütze'' (Low Saxon ''Rode Grütt'', related to Danish ''rødgrød'', a type of summer pudding made mostly from berries and usually served with cream, like Danish ''rødgrød med fløde''), and ''Labskaus'' (a mixture of corned beef, mashed potatoes, and beetroot, a cousin of the Norwegian ''lapskaus'' and Liverpool's lobscouse, all offshoots off an old-time one-pot meal that used to be the main component of the common sailor's humdrum diet on the high seas).

''Alsterwasser'' (in reference to the city's river, the Alster) is the local name for a type of shandy, a concoction of equal parts of beer and carbonated lemonade (''Zitronenlimonade''), the lemonade being added to the beer.

A regional dessert pastry called " Franzbrötchen" is similar in preparation to a croissant, but includes a cinnamon and sugar filling, often with raisins or brown sugar streusel. Ordinary bread rolls tend to be oval-shaped and of the French bread variety. The local name is ''Schrippe'' (scored lengthways) for the oval kind and, for the round kind, ''Rundstück'' ("round piece" rather than mainstream German '' Brötchen'', diminutive form of ''Brot'' "bread"), a relative of Denmark's ''rundstykke''. The cuisines of Hamburg and Denmark, especially of Copenhagen, have a lot in common. This also includes a predilection for open-faced sandwiches of all sorts, especially topped with cold-smoked or pickled fish.

The American hamburger may have developed from Hamburg's ''Frikadeller'': a pan-fried patty (usually larger and thicker than its American counterpart) made from a mixture of ground beef, soaked stale bread, egg, chopped onion, salt, and pepper, usually served with potatoes and vegetables like any other piece of meat, not usually on a bun. The Oxford Dictionary defined a ''Hamburger steak'' in 1802: a sometimes-smoked and -salted piece of meat, that, according to some sources, came from Hamburg to America. The name and food, "hamburger", has entered all English-speaking countries, and derivative words in non-English speaking countries.

There are restaurants which offer most of these dishes, especially in the HafenCity.

Main sights

File:Hamburg Elbphilharmonie 2016.jpg, ''Elbphilharmonie'' ("Elphi")
File:Hamburger Hafen-St. Michaelis.jpg, Port of Hamburg
File:Freedom-of-the-Seas--in-Hamburg.jpg, St. Pauli Piers and cruise ship
File:Speicherstadt abends.jpg, ''Speicherstadt'' (Warehouse district)
File:Rathaus Hamburg bei Nacht.jpg, Hamburg City Hall
File:St. Michaelis.jpg, St. Michael's Church ("Michel")
File:Reeperbahn.jpg, ''Reeperbahn'', nightlife district of St. Pauli
File:Miniatur wunderland.jpg, ''Miniatur Wunderland'' (Miniature Wonderland)
File:Grosse Freiheit Hamburg.jpg, ''Große Freiheit'' ("Great Freedom")
File:St. Nikolai Memorial Church.jpg, Nikolai Memorial
File:Sandtorpark 2013-05-24 12-03-35 Germany Hamburg-HafenCity 2h.jpg, HafenCity
File:Dockland by Night.jpg, Dockland at night
File:Alstereisvergnügen 11-02-2012 09.jpg, View over frozen Alster towards Radisson Hotel and Hertz-Turm
File:Hamburg Wallanlagen Brunnen.jpg, ''Planten un Blomen''
File:DE Hamburg Centerview.JPG, Jungfernstieg Boulevard
File:Hamburg-Blankenese(01).JPG, Hills and mansions in Blankenese
File:Laeisz-Halle (Hamburg-Neustadt).1.29179.ajb.jpg, ''Laeiszhalle'' concert venue
File:2013-06-08 Highflyer HP L4729.JPG, Hamburg Hauptbahnhof, the busiest railway station in Germany
File:Hamburg OLG 1.jpg, Hanseatisches Oberlandesgericht ("HansOLG"), upper court
File:Neue Skyline Hamburg.JPG, Highrises in St. Pauli (''Hafenkrone'')
File:Köhlbrandbrücke 2010.jpg, Köhlbrand Bridge
File:Heinrich-Hertz-Turm - PHB.jpg, TV Tower
File:HafenCity Traditionsschiffhafen Sandtorkai Hamburg 3943 v3.jpg, Traditional sailing ships at Sandtorkai in HafenCity
File:HP_L4224.JPG, View over Hamburg and the Alster

Alternative culture

Hamburg has long been a centre of alternative music and counter-culture movements. The boroughs of St. Pauli, Sternschanze