Posts Tagged With: church architecture

St Michaelis also has a vast crypt- the largest in Europe- which contains the mortal remains of a number of illustrious people, including the composer Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. The crypt is dark and the ceiling is low, so watch your step.

A Statue of Martin Luther stands watch outside of St. Micheal’s. Unlike St Petri, St. Michael’s welcomes visitors and offers a stunning view of the city from it’s bell tower.

St. Michael’s victory over the Devil looms over the main entrance. If this statue doesn’t scare you enough to go to church, I don’t know what will.

If you take the stairs to the bell tower (Instead of the elevator) you get a great view of this work of art from behind.

A massive pipe organ dominates the main Church.

The main Altar

I would suggest you take the elevator UP and the stairs DOWN and not the other way around, it was one long climb.

From the Observation Deck there is another climb even higher. The view was worth the trip.

Looking out towards the ship yard and river.

The view towards the Old City. The Rathaus is the spire on the far left, next is St. Petri’s, St. James and St. Nikolia’s.

The Church of St. Peter’s in Hamburg dates back as far as 1195. Napoleon used the Church as horse stable. It survived WW I mostly intact. The bronze lion-head door handles, the oldest work of art of Hamburg, date from the foundation of the tower in 1342. Don’t try to go inside, unless you’re there for Mass, they have a sign telling sightseers to go to another church, St. Michael’s, if they only want to look around.

I found a short cut from the shipyard where we were staying to the city of Hamburg. Would you believe there is a bridge that travels underwater ? The old Elbe tunnel, opened in 1911, is one of the oldest still operating tunnels in Europe.

The tunnel features two 20 ft diameter tunnels 80 ft underground, the tunnels have matching elevators on both ends. The four elevators on either side are capable of carrying two cars at a time. From street level you can climb the stairs down to the tunnels or ride the elevator.

Unlike most urban structures, the tunnel remains clean and bright (or at least bright for being 80′ under water. Terra Cotta tiles depicting sea creatures, garbage and rats (all things you may find in the tunnels). If you’d like to spend private time in the tunnels, you can even rent the tunnel out for private events.

Fire Exit Keep Clear

A Ram statue outside the Galeria Kaufhof on Monckebergstrasse

Colorful facades on Reichenstrasse – O Ren Ishii, a Vietnamese restaurant and Rackow Schule, a language school in Altstadt.

Clock tower on Bei St.Annen.

At the edge of Hamburg’s Counting House District (“Kontorhausviertel”) is Zippelhaus, one of the last of the old-style Counting Houses (“Kontorhauser”) of Hamburg.
Before the 20th Century, Hamburg’s Counting Houses were little more than modern variants of the old Merchant House, in widespread use since the 13th Century: a multi-story townhouse with shop/office space on the first floor or two, above which were several levels of living quarters.
Zippelhaus was one of the last of Hamburg’s old-style Counting Houses, modeled on the Merchant House and built to serve both commercial and residential purposes.
A few years after Zippelhaus was completed, the form and function of Counting Houses changed—they were to become the modern-day office building, pure and simple. After 1900, Counting Houses were built to serve purely commercial purposes, and were placed in purely commercial zones.
Today Zippelhaus (Onion House) is the home of an excellent restaurant.

Asia-Haus – The architect George Radel built this office building for the merchant Theodore Lind in two phases 1900 and 1909. Menacing-looking mask motifs in the richly ornamented facade refer to trade with the Far East.

This inscription on the Fire Station reads…To the glory of God,to the defense (against fire) of your fellow human being (of your neighbor).

The new musical Sister Act was premiering in Hamburg and one of the department stores had this display of the costumes.

I could only imagine the nuns at St. Gregory’s wearing these at Mass on Sundays.

I bet Sr. Mary Catherine would rock this ensemble.