The Speicherstadt (, literally: 'City of

Warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities ...

s', meaning warehouse district) 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 ...

is the largest warehouse district in the world where the buildings stand on timber-pile foundations, oak logs, in this particular case. It is located in the

port of Hamburg The Port of Hamburg (german: Hamburger Hafen, ) is a seaport on the river Elbe in Hamburg, Germany, from its mouth on the North Sea. Known as Germany's "Gateway to the World" (''Tor zur Welt''), it is the country's largest seaport by volume ...

—within the HafenCity quarter—and was built from 1883 to 1927. The district was built as a free zone to transfer goods without paying customs. The district and the surrounding area have been under redevelopment for many years as the port industry has evolved. As an exceptional example of Neo-Gothic and

modernist architecture Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that form ...

, and for its testimony to the development of international maritime trade, the Speicherstadt was awarded the status of

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

on 5 July 2015, along with the

Kontorhaus District The Kontorhaus District is the southeastern part of Altstadt, Hamburg, between Steinstraße, Meßberg, Klosterwall and Brandstwiete. The streetscape is characterised by large office buildings in the style of Brick Expressionism of the early 2 ...

Geography

The ''Speicherstadt'' is located in the

. It is long and interlaced by loading canals (Low German: ''

Fleet Fleet may refer to: Vehicles *Fishing fleet *Naval fleet *Fleet vehicles, a pool of motor vehicles *Fleet Aircraft, the aircraft manufacturing company Places Canada *Fleet, Alberta, Canada, a hamlet England * The Fleet Lagoon, at Chesil Beach, ...

s'').

History

Since 1815, the independent and sovereign city of Hamburg was a member of the

German Confederation The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...

—the association of Central European states created by the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...

—but not member of the

German Customs Union The (), or German Customs Union, was a coalition of German states formed to manage tariffs and economic policies within their territories. Organized by the 1833 treaties, it formally started on 1 January 1834. However, its foundations had b ...

. Following the

Austro-Prussian War The Austro-Prussian War, also by many variant names such as Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), (; "German war of brothers") and by a variety of other names, was fought in 186 ...

which established Prussian hegemony in north Germany, Hamburg was obliged to join the

North German Federation The North German Confederation (german: Norddeutscher Bund) was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was transformed in the subsequent year into a confederated st ...

.Planung und Finanzierung der Speicherstadt in Hamburg ,by Frank M. Hinz; publ. LIT Verlag Münster, 2000; page 45 However it obtained an opt-out in the form of Article 34 of the North German constitution,Constitution of the North German Federation //de.wikisource.org/wiki/Verfassung_des_Norddeutschen_Bundes Retrieved Dec 2017 which stated that Hamburg and the other Hanseatic cities would remain as free ports outside the Community customs border until they apply for inclusion. Article 34 was carried over into the imperial constitution of 1871, when the south German states joined the federation. However, Hamburg came under great pressure from Berlin to join the Customs Union after 1879, when the latter's external tariff was greatly increased. In 1881 an agreement was signed between Prussian Finance Minister

Karl Hermann Bitter Karl Hermann Bitter (27 February 1813 – 12 September 1885) was a Prussian statesman and writer on music. Biography He was born at Schwedt, Province of Brandenburg, and studied law and cameralistics at Berlin and Bonn. He served as the plenipot ...

and the State Secretary of the imperial Treasury, on the one hand, Hamburg's Plenipotentiary Senators Versmann and O'Swald, and the envoy of the Hanseatic states in Berlin, Dr. Krüger, on the other. Hamburg would join the Customs Union with all its territory, except a permanent free port district which the agreement specified. For this district, Article 34 would still apply, thus the freedoms of that district could not be abolished or restricted without Hamburg's approval.Hamburg and the Freeport - Economy and Society 1888–1914, by Peter Borowsky, publ Hamburg University Press, Hamburg, 2005; p. 114 In 1883, to clear space for the new port area, the demolition of the ''Kehrwieder'' and ''Wandrahm'' area began and more than 20,000 people needed to be relocated. The construction was completed before the start of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, managed by the ''Freihafen-Lagerhaus-Gesellschaft'' (the predecessor of the Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG), which was also responsible for the subsequent operation. After the destruction of about half of the buildings in

Operation Gomorrah The Allied bombing of Hamburg during World War II included numerous attacks on civilians and civic infrastructure. As a large city and industrial centre, Hamburg's shipyards, U-boat pens, and the Hamburg-Harburg area oil refineries were attacke ...

by bombing 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 opposin ...

, the conservative rebuilding was finished in 1967, while the

Hanseatic Trade Center The Hanseatic Trade Center (HTC) is a major office complex in the HafenCity of Hamburg, Germany. Developed after an urban design competition in the 1980s, and built in five phases during the 1990s, it was the first new construction in the urban ...

now occupies the sites of the completely destroyed structures. In 1991 it was listed as a protected Hamburg heritage site. Since 2008, it has been part of the '' HafenCity'' quarter. In an attempt to revitalize the inner city area, the Hamburg government initiated the development of the ''HafenCity'' area, for example with the construction of the

Elbe Philharmonic Hall The Elbphilharmonie (; "Elbe Philharmonic Hall"), popularly nicknamed Elphi, is a concert hall in the HafenCity quarter of Hamburg, Germany, on the Grasbrook peninsula of the Elbe River. It is among the largest in the world. The new glassy con ...

Architecture

Hamburg,_Speicherstadt,_Wasserschloss_--_2016_--_2971

The warehouses were built with different support structures, but Franz Andreas Meyer created a

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

red-

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

outer layer with little towers, alcoves, and glazed terra cotta ornaments. The warehouses are multi-storey buildings with entrances from water and land. One of the oldest warehouses is the ''Kaispeicher B'' of the International Maritime Museum. Hamburg-090613-0249-DSC 8346-Speicherstadt

Hamburg-090613-0249-DSC 8346-Speicherstadt

Use

The ''Speicherstadt'' is a major tourist attraction in Hamburg and is the focus of most of the harbor tours. There are several museums like the ' (German Customs Museum), ''

Miniatur Wunderland ''Miniatur Wunderland'' (German for 'miniature wonderland') is a model railway and miniature airport attraction in Hamburg, Germany, the largest of its kind in the world. The railway is located in the historic Speicherstadt neighbourhood of the ci ...

'' (a model railway) and the

Hamburg Dungeon Built in 2000, the Hamburg Dungeon is a tourist attraction from a chain including the London Dungeon and Berlin Dungeon. It is the first of this brand to be built in mainland Europe. It provides a journey through Hamburg’s dark history in ...

. The

Afghan Museum The Afghan Museum (German: ''Afghanisches Museum'') was private museum of culture and cultural history of Afghanistan, situated in the historic and picturesque '' Speicherstadt'' (warehouse district) of Hamburg, Germany. The museum's mandate was t ...

was also located here, but closed in 2012. The buildings are also used as warehouses. As of 2005, the companies in the ''Speicherstadt'' handled one-third of the world's

carpet A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but since the 20th century synthetic fibers such as polypropylene, nylon, or polyester hav ...

production, and other goods including cocoa, coffee, tea, spices, maritime equipment, and electronics.

References

Bibliography

* * * A historical detective story. *

External links

Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District with Chilehaus : UNESCO Official Website
{{Authority control World Heritage Sites in Germany Zones of Hamburg Buildings and structures in Hamburg-Mitte Geography of Hamburg Heritage sites in Hamburg Redeveloped ports and waterfronts in Germany Warehouse districts Tourist attractions in Hamburg 1888 establishments in Germany Office buildings in Germany Free ports