Hansaplatz (Hamburg)

Hansa Fountain (2008)

The Hansaplatz with the Hansa fountain in the middle is a place that was newly created in 1878 in the St. Georg district near Hamburg's main train station .

history

Today's Hansaplatz with its 17 meter high fountain and linden trees is a central meeting point in the Hamburg district of St. Georg. Since the 14th century, the area around Hansaplatz - called Borgesch - has been the community field for cows and pigs. From the 18th century, the site was leased to carpenters who used it as a warehouse for wood and tools and built small dwellings.

The tram line Lübecker Tor - St. Pauli of the Hamburg-Altonaer Pferdebahn-Gesellschaft (HAPf) has been running over Hansaplatz since 1890 . From 1927 to 1943, Hansaplatz was the terminus of several tram lines (3, 10, 4red, 22red).

The buildings on the east side, which were destroyed in the Second World War, were replaced in the 1950s , while the north side was not rebuilt until the 1980s , so that the square has again been surrounded by closed residential developments.

Until the mid-1970s, Hansabrunnenplatz, with its circular linden trees inside, was a car-driven and parked roundabout . In 1978 the Hansaplatz was redesigned for 675,000 DM, with the parking facilities around the square removed and the roundabout abolished.

Since the 1980s, the square has developed into a meeting place for marginalized social groups such as the drinker scene and is still known today for drug trafficking and prostitution. From mid-2007 to 2009, the Hansaplatz was monitored by several video cameras. Like the Reeperbahn, Hansaplatz has been a gun ban area since December 12, 2007. Violations of the gun ban will result in a fine.

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View of Hansaplatz towards the northeast (2011)

In order to make the Hansaplatz more attractive, it was again upgraded between 2010 and 2011 under the then district office manager Markus Schreiber (SPD) for 2.55 million euros.

In the meantime, in addition to trendy bars, more upscale catering establishments have settled, which ensure that different milieus are represented on the square.

Hansa fountain

The construction of the Hansa-Fountain was carried out by the company Hanseatische Baugesellschaft (originally Hanseatische Bau-Gesellschaft ), founded in 1872 - whose shareholders under the supervisory board chairman, businessman and politician Edgar Daniel Roß , the businessman and Hamburg senator Gustav Godeffroy , the real estate agent Wentzel and other merchants were - financed with a construction sum of approx. 130,000 marks and realized by the sculptor Engelbert Peiffer (also Pfeiffer). The fountain was inaugurated on July 10, 1878.

The four figures depicted at the Hansabrunnen are four historical personalities who shaped the city of Hamburg: Emperor Constantine the Great (towards Steindamm), Charlemagne (towards Asklepios Klinik St. Georg ), St. Archbishop Ansgar (towards the main train station) and Count Adolf III. from Schauenburg and Holstein (towards Alster). Above it the coats of arms of the Hanseatic cities of Lübeck, Hamburg, Bremen and the German Empire. At the top, as the crowning glory, the Hansa is depicted, so not a goddess, not even - as is often assumed - Hamburg's patron saint Hammonia , but an allegory of the strength and power of the former Hanseatic League .