September, 2005 - Nr. 9
Hamburg:
Museums for All in the Family
Toronto - Hamburg may have more bridges than Venetia, but did you know that Hamburg is also home to more than 70 museums? Ranging from the world famous Kunsthalle fine arts museum, possessing works of art spanning seven centuries, to a miniature train museum, a doll museum, a spice museum, the Dungeons of Hamburg and the "Dialogue in the Dark" museum, there is an experience waiting for Mom, Dad, Aunt Betty, Uncle Max, Grandma and Junior!
Children delight in the world’s biggest model railway set-ups at Miniature Wunderland, the model train museum. On 9,000 metres of track, there are 700 trains (with a total of 10,400 cars) 100,000 miniature trees, 90,000 little figures and much scenery to behold. www.miniature-wunderland.com. The Childhood Dreams Museum is the home of an unusual collection of more than 650 dolls, dollhouses and toys from the past, lovingly arranged in lifelike scenes. www.kindheits-traeume.de
The Hamburg Dungeons are a scare for all ages. Talented live actors, modern technology and spectacular theatrical effects bring not only Hamburg’s dark past to life, but also that of York, Edinburgh and London. Visitors don’t just witness history, they take part in it. A spectacular ten-minute water ride, for example, is to remind visitors of Hamburg’s horrible flood of 1717. www.hamburgdungeon.com
"Dialogue in the Dark" brings alive the idea of learning to see anew in a totally dark environment. In Hamburg, this internationally acclaimed show is housed in the Warehouse Complex and expected to stay until 2008. Entrust yourself to a complete stranger, a visually impaired or totally blind person, who will open your eyes in the dark and show you a world that isn’t any poorer, but different. Discover your senses of hearing, of smell, touch and taste all over again.
www.dialog-im-dunkeln.deAlso worth exploring:
Spicy’s Gewürzmuseum (
www.spicys.de) where you can touch, taste and smell 50 different spices in 900 exhibits.Hamburger Kunsthalle fine arts museum (
www.hamburger-kunsthalle.de) with its three interlinked building from 1869, 1917 and 1997, showing the medieval altars of Master Bertram, two famous Rembrandt canvasses and an impressive array of Impressionist and Classical Modernism paintings.Located in a modernist pavilion on the parklands along the Elbe called Jenish Park, the Ernst Barlach Haus (
www.barlach-haus.de) features a large collection of sculptures by one of Germany’s foremost 20th-century artists, Ernst Barlach, who was born nearby.The foundation of the Museum für Völkerkunde Hamburg dates back to 1879. Today it is one of the important ethnological museums of Europe. Its collections include more than 350,000, objects covering art and the history of cultures from all parts of the world. Various festivals, markets and concerts make it a lively meeting point for citizens of different nations (
www.voelkerkundemuseum.com.)For more information on Hamburg’s museums, go to
www.hamburg-tourismus.de.For general information on Germany, please contact the German National Tourist Office’s toll free number, 1-877-315-6237, send an e-mail to
gntonyc@d-z-t.com, or visit GNTO’s Web site www.cometogermany.com.
