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

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, 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. ...

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 (), 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 the first attempt to establish ...

, which had to close in 1769. The theatre employed

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (; ; 22 January 1729 – 15 February 1781) was a German philosopher, dramatist, publicist and art critic, and a representative of the Enlightenment era. His plays and theoretical writings substantially influenced the dev ...

as the world's first dramaturg. Today, the

Hamburg State Opera The Hamburg State Opera (in German: ) is a German opera company based in Hamburg. Its theatre is near the square of Gänsemarkt. Since 2015, the current ''Intendant'' of the company is Georges Delnon, and the current ''Generalmusikdirektor'' ...

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 (Saale), Halle to receive instruction at the Francke Foundations. After being ap ...

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 continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

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

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Ufa-Palast am Zoo The Ufa-Palast am Zoo, located near Berlin Zoological Garden in the City West, 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 German ...

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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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 systems and 14 systems. The , commonly understood to stand for ('underground railway'), are conventional rapid transit systems that run mostly underground, while the or ('city rapid railway') are c ...

station of

Gänsemarkt Gänsemarkt (lit. ''Geese Market'') is a public square in Hamburg, Germany, located in the Neustadt quarter. The triangular urban square is accessible by streets of Jungfernstieg from the east, Dammtorstraße and Valentinskamp in the north west ...

( U2 line) is located right below the square.

References

External links

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