Hanover is the capital of the state of Lower Saxony. The town on
the southern edge of the North German lowlands on the Leine and the
Ihme was first mentioned in 1150 and received city rights in 1241.
From 1636 Hanover was the residence of the Guelphs, from 1692 the
residence of the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg and from 1814 the
capital of the Kingdom of Hanover. From 1714 to 1837 there was a
personal union between Great Britain and Hanover, after which
Hanover's monarchs were also the kings of Great Britain. After the
annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover by Prussia, Hanover became the
provincial capital of the Province of Hanover from 1866 and, after
the dissolution of Prussia in August 1946, the capital of the State
of Hanover. Since its merger with the Free States of Braunschweig,
Oldenburg and Schaumburg-Lippe in November 1946, Hanover has been
the state capital of Lower Saxony. A major city since 1875, today
with over 535,000 inhabitants it is one of the 15 most populous
cities in Germany.
The city and the former district are
combined to form a special kind of municipal association, the
Hanover region, which belongs to the
Hanover-Brunswick-Göttingen-Wolfsburg metropolitan region. Important
rail routes cross in Hanover and important road routes run through
Hanover from north to south and east to west. The main train
station, the central bus station and the airport are each among the
top 10 in Germany. The city is connected to the inland waterway
network with several ports via the Mittelland Canal. Hanover was a
Hanseatic city from the 13th century until around 1620 and has been
a member of the New Hanseatic League since the end of June 2019.
Hanover is the seat of the Evangelical Church in Germany and the
headquarters of the World Communion of Reformed Churches.
Hanover is home to fifteen universities and several libraries. The
correspondence of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and the Golden Letter,
kept in the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library, are part of the
UNESCO World Document Heritage. Hanover is an important research and
business location as well as a nationally important shopping city.
The cultural scene is diverse with numerous theatres, museums and
international theatre, music and dance festivals. Hanover is an
important sports city and since 2014 also a UNESCO City of Music.
The cityscape is characterized by numerous public green spaces,
a high density of street art and numerous monuments, including
representative buildings of the North German Brick Gothic, the
Hanover School of Architecture, Brick Expressionism and Classicism.
The Hannover adventure zoo, the Maschsee lake and the Herrenhausen
Gardens with the Herrenhausen Palace are well-known nationwide, and
the arched elevator in the New Town Hall is a worldwide rarity. The
German Michel is buried in the Marktkirche. With the second largest
exhibition center in the world and numerous world-leading trade
fairs, Hanover is one of the leading trade fair cities in Europe.
The world's largest marksmen's festival takes place every year and
Hanover has had the official honorary title of "Schützenstadt" since
1955. The Maschsee Festival is the largest lake festival in Germany.
Hanover is divided into 13 districts:
Ahlem-Badenstedt-Davenstedt
Bothfeld-Vahrenheide
Buchholz-Kleefeld
Döhren-Wülfel
Herrenhausen sticks
Kirchrode-Bemerode-Wülferode
Linden Limmer
Misburg-Anderten
center
North
Ricklingen
Südstadt-Bult
Vahrenwald list
Hanover emerged from a medieval settlement
that was in a flood-protected location on the banks of the Leine.
From 1714 to 1837 there was a personal union of the kingdoms of
Great Britain and Hanover. As a result of the German War of 1866,
the Kingdom of Hanover was annexed by Prussia. During the Second
World War, Hanover, as an important traffic junction and location of
important war operations, was repeatedly the target of Allied
bombing attacks from 1940 onwards. The degree of destruction in the
city center was 90%.
City walks
"Red thread"
For visitors with little time, The Red
Thread is the quickest and most convenient way to get to know Hanover's
sights. Over a length of 4,200 meters, 36 sights were connected with a
red line painted on the footpaths. An accompanying brochure is available
for €3.00 from the tourist information offices of Hannover Marketing &
Tourismus GmbH, Ernst-August-Platz 8 (at the main station) or Trammplatz
2 (in the new town hall), 30159 Hannover, Tel. 0511 12345 - 111.
City tours
Hannover Marketing & Tourismus GmbH (HMTG) offers three
public city tours: The hop-on hop-off buses run up to 7 times a day and
the passengers are provided with the most important information via
audio guides. During the culinary city tour, there are tastings at
various stations, and the bicycle tour mainly takes you through the
green areas of the city. In addition, the HMTG offers several guided
city tours.
The guided tours of Stattreisen-Hannover have theater
walks or other themed walks in the program.
The Bürgerbüro
Stadtentwicklung Hannover e.V. offers numerous thematic online audio
StadtRadTouren free of charge, which can be used independently and at
any time via app, even on the go.
The Bussanova vintage buses offer
various themed tours.
Eat the World has various culinary district
tours in the program.
Various providers offer Segway tours.
Adventure bus lines
In Hanover there are two "tourist bus lines"
integrated into the public transport system, which stop at many sights
on their round trips. The adventure bus lines 100 and 200 run every 10
minutes. Further information can be found on the Hannoversche
Verkehrsbetriebe website.
Old town
At the end of the war, only
40 houses remained of the old town with half-timbered houses built close
together and narrow streets between Steintor and Aegidientorplatz. In
the area of Knochenhauer-, Kramer- and Burgstraße, today's old town
core, 12 houses remained. The rest is reconstructed, with facades from
neighboring areas. The historic houses were also badly damaged and were
rebuilt. A model of the destroyed old town can be seen in the new town
hall.
Churches
1 Marktkirche, Hanns-Lilje-Platz 2, 30159
Hanover. The Evangelical Lutheran church in brick Gothic style dates
from the 14th century.
2 Kreuzkirche (Castle and City Church of St.
Crucis), Kreuzkirchhof 3, 30159 Hanover. The church was completed in
1333. Inside is an altarpiece by Lucas Cranach the Elder. Ä.
3
Aegidienkirche, Aegidienkirchhof 1, 30159 Hanover. In 1347 the
construction of the Gothic hall church began. The tower was built in
1717. In 1943, during the Second World War, the church was destroyed
down to its foundations. In 1958, the top of the tower was fitted with a
carillon that sounds daily at 9:05 am, 12:05 pm, 3:05 pm and 6:05 pm.
The church was left in ruins and serves as a memorial against war and
tyranny. Inside hangs the Peace Bell, a gift from Hanover's sister city
Hiroshima.
4 Neustädter Hof- und Stadtkirche St. Johannis, Rote Reihe
8, 30169 Hanover. Here is the final resting place of Gottfried Wilhelm
Leibniz.
5 St. Clemens Basilica, Goethestrasse 33, 30169 Hanover .
Europe's northernmost building in Venetian style.
6 Evangelical
Reformed Church, Lavesallee 4, 30169 Hanover. The bells were donated by
Queen Victoria of England.
7 Church of St. Martin, Lindenstrasse 1A,
30559 Hanover (Linden-Mitte) . By Dieter Oesterlen. On its outer wall
there is a modern relief of Saint Martin by the sculptor Kurt Lehmann.
8 Garden Church of St. Marien, Marienstrasse 35, 30171 Hanover
(Südstadt). With the resting place of Ludwig Windthorst.
9 Christ
Church, Conrad-Wilhelm-Hase-Platz 1, 30167 Hanover (Nordstadt) .
northwest of the Klagesmarkt. Built by Conrad Wilhelm Hase until 1864.
The neo-Gothic brick building is the first new church to be built in
Hanover after 1747 and is a model church according to the Eisenach
regulations, a recommendation issued in 1861 for the design of
Protestant church buildings, which lasted until 1890. As the residence
church of George V, the Christ Church was only used once (on the day of
the inauguration). However, through the patronage of Ernst August,
Prince of Hanover, there is still contact with the former Hanoverian
royal family today. Numerous war damages; after the reconstruction, a
service was held for the first time on Christmas Eve 1953; from 1996
extensive conversions; in 2000 the Christ Church was part of the
church's Expo presence as a diaconal church; Visitor records on the 30th
German Ev. Church Day 2005; In the Hannover Garden Region campaign year
2009, the Christ Church presented itself with no benches, Mediterranean
greenery and artistically alienated by Anne Nissen as a Garden of Eden.
More than 50,000 visitors viewed the art project; Since 2013, the Christ
Church has also been a children's and youth choir center.
10
Lutherkirche, An der Lutherkirche 20, 30167 Hanover (in the northern
part of the city) . is an evangelical church that has also been used as
a youth church since 2006. The building was built in 1895-1898 by
Rudolph Eberhard Hillebrand as the last of the three large church
buildings in Nordstadt on an approximately triangular building site in
the center of Nordstadt. With its two mighty spires surrounded by
several lateral spires, the church presented an imposing sight until
shortly before the end of the war, of which little is left today.
Numerous war damages; after the reconstruction, a service was held for
the first time on December 1, 1957 with a festive service to inaugurate
the new organ. In 2004, the Luther Church was rebuilt by the Hanoverian
architect Bernd Rokahr into the first youth church in northern Germany.
Castles, palaces and castles
Leineschloss,
Hinrich-Wilhelm-Head-Platz 1, 30159 Hanover. The main residence of the
Guelphs was the Leineschoss in the old town, which was severely damaged
in World War II. During the reconstruction in the 1950s, the
Leineschloss was supplemented with modern extensions and has been the
seat of the Lower Saxony state parliament ever since.
Herrenhausen
Palace, Herrenhäuser Str. 5, 30419 Hanover. It was the summer residence
that stood on the north side of the Great Garden until 1945. It was
almost completely destroyed in World War II. The castle was
reconstructed again from 2010, and reopened in 2013. In the center of
the castle there is a congress center, and in the side wings is the
castle museum.
Welfenschloss, Welfengarten 1, 30167 Hanover. The
palace, built between 1857 and 1866, is the last palace built by the
Hanoverian royal family. Due to the annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover
by Prussia in 1866, it was never used as a royal residence. It has been
the seat of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University in Hanover since
1879
Hanoverian palaces included the Georgenpalais in Georgengarten,
the 1864 Palais Grote (Sophienstrasse 7) in the banking district, and
the Wangenheimpalais (Friedrichswall 1) near the New Town Hall.
In Hanover there is also a small knight's castle (actually only a
historicizing replica). It was built in the district of Herrenhausen
(Herrenhäuser Kirchweg 21) in 1885 on behalf of Alexander Moritz Simon,
fell into disrepair over time, and was then renovated and converted into
a residential building.
until 1950
Old Town
Hall, Karmarschstraße 42, 30159 Hanover (old town). court arbor. The
oldest part from 1410 is on Schmiedestraße, the market wing was built a
little later. The former pharmacy wing was replaced by a building in the
Italian Romanesque style.
New Town Hall, Trammplatz 2, 30159 Hanover.
Palace-like magnificent building built from 1901 to 1913. Miniature city
models in the main hall, tour of the town hall, tower ride with inclined
elevator. There is a large pond on the south side, which is not far from
the Maschsee. Last change: Oct. 2019 (information may be out of date)
The Kröpcke clock is a simplified reconstruction (1977) of the
historical original clock (1885) at the Kröpcke near the train station.
Leibnizhaus, Holzmarkt 4, 30159, Hanover (old town). Built elsewhere in
Renaissance style in 1499, destroyed in the war and reconstructed in
1983.
Opera House (downtown, near Kröpcke)
Anzeiger high-rise
building (Steintor) − former newspaper building, built at the end of the
1920s
Ballhof (old town), built 1649-64
Burgstraße 12 (old town) -
Hanover's oldest surviving half-timbered house (1564/1566)
Nolte
House (old town)
Beguine Tower (Old Town)
Marstalltor (old town)
by Louis Remy de la Fosse
Waterloo Column (Calenberger Neustadt) - By
Georg Ludwig Laves
Künstlerhaus (downtown) - Built in 1855, example
of the Hanoverian round arch style
Overlach'sche Haus (downtown) -
from 1663
Laveshaus (downtown)
The towers of the Hanoverian
Landwehr: Döhrener Turm, Pferdeturm and the tower on the Lindener Berg.
The Lister Tower, demolished in the mid-19th century, was replaced in
1895 by a romanticized replica.
Dat Gröne Hus (south town) from 1899.
Arcade from the New House from 1894 on Emmichplatz
Wasserturm
Hannover - When it was completed in 1911, it was the largest water tower
in Europe at 62 metres. It was renovated in 2012 and now serves as a
venue.
Cupola Hall - Built from 1911-1914 by Paul Bonatz and
Friedrich Eugen Scholer. With 3,600 seats, the cupola hall is the
largest concert hall in Germany. The cupola hall is part of the HCC
(Hannover Congress Centrum).
Lock Anderten - Was the largest inland
lock in Europe at the time.
There are three historic windmills in
Hanover. There is a post mill from 1701 in the Kleefeld district, the
Buchholz windmill from 1868 and the Anderter mill.
from 1950
Vian Giac Monastery (middle field) - The largest pagoda in Europe.
The world's first wind turbine with a wooden tower is located in
Marienwerder.
Glass Palace of the Nord/LB (downtown)
Media center
by Alessandro Mendini (near Steintor)
Gehry Tower by Frank O. Gehry
(near Steintor)
VW Tower (Raschplatz)
EXPO roof - The largest
wooden roof in the world (fairground)
Expowal - The building
resembling a whale was the symbol of EXPO 2000
Telemax
(Groß-Buchholz) - The highest radio tower in northern Germany
Stadtwerke Hochhaus - Opened in 1975, at 92 meters Hanover's tallest
skyscraper
Hanover has a number of art objects that
are in public space. Even bus stops became art objects as part of an art
event, such as a whale fin (at the Maschsee), a sailing boat (near the
Maschsee) or two gates made of yellow-black building blocks (at the
Steintor).
The Nanas by Niki de Saint Phalle, which have stood on
the banks of the Leine since 1974, are probably the best known. These
larger-than-life abstract female sculptures were erected in honor of
three Hanoverian women. The Nanas were initially rejected, but today
they are an integral part of the cityscape, which is also reflected in
the fact that their renovation in 2004 was supported by the citizens of
Hanover with a private fundraising campaign. Today the Nanas are part of
the sculpture mile in Hanover with numerous other sculptures and works
of art in public space.
A free series of leaflets "Discover art.
Walking in the city." etc. Available from Tourist Information,
Ernst-August-Platz 8 (at the main train station), 30159 Hanover, Tel.
0511 12345 - 111. The six leaflets contain information about an art walk
through the city center.
Hanover is one of the cities
that host the Museum Night once a year in June. If you are lucky enough
to be in Hanover that night, you can visit all the museums, galleries
and libraries from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. for an entrance fee of around €8.
The big houses
Historical Museum on the High Shore, Pferdestraße
6, 30159 Hanover. Tel.: +49 511 16 84 23 52, fax: +49 51 11 68 45 003,
e-mail: Historisches.Museum@Hannover-Stadt.de . History of Hanover, from
the medieval settlement "honovere" to the residence city, to the
world-famous trade fair location. The focus is on the period from 1714
to 1837, when the Electorate of Hanover was personally associated with
the English royal family. Open: Wed to Sun 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tue and
Thu until 7 p.m.
Kestnergesellschaft, Goseriede 11, 30159 Hanover.
Phone: +49 511 70 120 20, email: kestner@kestnergesellschaft.de . With
more than 4,000 members, the Kestnergesellschaft is one of the largest
art associations in Germany. It shows exhibitions of classic modern and
contemporary art. Film, video film, contemporary music and architecture
are a particular focus, but large-scale installations and comprehensive
presentations of contemporary painting, sculpture and video art are also
on display. Open: Tues to Sun 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Thurs to 9 p.m.
Hanover Art Association, Sophienstrasse 2, 30159 Hanover. The
Kunstverein Hannover was founded in 1832 as one of the first art
associations in Germany and has its domicile in the "Künstlerhaus
Hannover". 6 - 8 internationally oriented monographic and thematic
exhibitions are shown every year. The exhibitions are based on annually
changing focal points.
August Kestner Museum, Trammplatz 3, 30159
Hanover. Tel.: +49 511 16 84 21 20, fax: +49 511 16 84 65 30, e-mail:
museum-august-kestner@hannover-stadt.de. The August Kestner Museum is
located in the House of 5,000 Windows and has been one of the municipal
museums since 1889. The house shows 6,000 years of applied art in four
collection areas: ancient cultures, Egyptian cultures, a valuable coin
collection and applied art. Price: €7, reduced €5.
Herrenhausen
Castle Museum. The museum is located in Herrenhausen Palace in the
Herrenhausen Gardens. The museum shows key personalities of the ruling
family, the court and garden architecture and shows why the Guelph dukes
created a summer residence with a pleasure garden and expanded it into a
representative complex. In addition, the museum explains the connection
between social life and intellectual attitudes of the baroque and manor
house garden design with the help of everyday objects, works of art and
luxury objects of the nobility. The third part of the museum shows the
development of the Herrenhausen Gardens from the Enlightenment to the
present day.
Lower Saxony State Museum, Willy-Brandt-Allee 5, 30169
Hanover. Phone: +49 511 70 12 00, fax: +49 511 98 07 686, e-mail:
info@nlm-h.niedersachsen.de. The Lower Saxony State Museum is the
largest museum in the city. The Landesgalerie presents European art from
the 11th to the 20th century and has one of the largest collections of
German and French Impressionism. The natural history section features
zoology, botany, geology and a vivarium housing 2,000 fish, insects,
amphibians, spiders and lizards. The archeology department has one of
the largest and most important archaeological collections in all of
Europe. The ethnology department shows cultures from all over the world
and is one of the oldest in Germany. The Lower Saxony Coin Cabinet is
the former coin cabinet of the Kings of Great Britain and the Electors
of Hanover and includes over 40,000 coins and medals from the British
Empire and Northwest Germany. Features: Luggage Storage, Museum Shop.
Open: Tue to Sun 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thu 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Price: €4,
reduced €3, families €9.
Sprengel Museum. Tel.: +49 (0)511 16 84 38
75. One of the most renowned art museums in Europe and presents the art
of the 20th century. The focus is on classical modernism with the Kurt
Schwitters collection, works of German Expressionism and French Cubism,
the cabinet of abstract art, graphics and the photography and media
department. The museum also exhibits particular examples of abstract,
conceptual and minimal art, informal and neouveau réalisme with the
donation of Niki de Saint-Phalle. Open: Wed to Sun 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.,
Tue to 8 p.m.
Wilhelm-Busch - German Museum for Caricature and
Drawing, Georgengarten 1, 30167 Hanover. The Wilhelm Busch - German
Museum for Caricature and Drawing is located in the Georgenpalais. With
its Wilhelm Busch collection and the extensive collection of caricatures
and critical graphics, this museum is unique in Germany. In addition,
there are constantly changing exhibitions (cartoons, comics and
caricatures) of contemporary artists from Germany and abroad. Open: Tue
to Sat 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (winter until 4 p.m.), Sun 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.,
25 December and 1 January 12-6 p.m., December 24th and 31st closed.
More museums
The Blind Museum Hanover explains the blind
education from 1843 to today with over 6,000 exhibits. For example,
specific teaching aids, everyday aids, over 600 historical specialist
books, documents and exhibits on famous blind people such as King George
V and historical films about the blind as well as a number of
curiosities are on display. Another museum for the blind only exists in
Berlin.
The Printing Museum. Phone: +49 (0)511 220 82 53, email:
buchdruck.museum@htp-tel.de. is furnished in the style of a typical
Linden backyard printing shop. It is designed as a living museum.
The
Bunker Museum. is located in a real bunker, which still contains the
original equipment and furnishings.
At the ice factory. numerous art
exhibitions and theater projects take place. The Foro Artistico, an
international media art forum, is also located on the site. Innovative
exhibition projects with video sculptures, interactive video and
computer installations, sound and light spaces as well as artistic
CD-ROM productions and Internet projects have been presented there since
1991.
The EXPOSEUM. at the EXPO-Plaza deals with the EXPO 2000, which
was a guest in Hanover in 2000. On 500 square meters, the museum shows
pictures, models, films and gifts from different nations.
In the Fire
Brigade Museum. technical objects, a collection of uniforms, as well as
documents and photos on the history of the Hanover fire brigade and on
fire protection are on display. The world's first mobile fire engine was
handed over in Hanover in 1902.
The Cemetery Museum wants to take
away the visitor's fear of dying. Zinc coffins, grave crosses,
inscriptions, implements and exhibits from other religious forms of
burial are on display, such as the Buddhist funeral money or the
colorful and cheerful additions to a funeral service in Mexico.
The
Ahlem Memorial. essentially documents the history of this place as well
as that of the inhabitants of the Jewish faith in the city of Hanover
and the former district. It has existed since 1987.
The handicraft
form Hanover. offers craftsmen, artisans and designers from Hanover,
Lower Saxony, Germany and other European and non-European countries a
platform for presenting their work. In particular, exhibits are shown
that are characterized by a high level of craftsmanship and
aesthetically reflected product quality, are contemporary and innovative
in their content and make a contribution to the further development of
applied art.
In the Hammer Museum. over 2,000 hammers from many
countries are on display. The spectrum ranges from a 0.2 gram hammer
with a handle to a 75kg hammer without a handle.
The Hanover Gallery
shows a permanent exhibition by Bruno Bruni.
In the local history
museum in Ahlem. tells the local history of the district. Among other
things, a living room from the 19th century, a worker's kitchen from the
beginning of the 20th century, a farmer's cane, an old loom and
documentation on the local history are on display
In the Kunsthalle
Faust, young international and regional artists present themselves in
the form of changing exhibitions. The spectrum includes all media from
photography, video, painting or object art
In the laves house the
Lower Saxony Chamber of Architects shows several exhibitions on the
subject of architecture every year
The coin cabinet of TUI AG. shows
mining coins, solvents, show coins, Gleiwitz coins, art castings, mining
tokens and emergency money.
In the Museum of Energy History(s). About
1,000 exhibits document the history of energy use over the last 150
years. The exhibition consists of the areas of household and
electromedicine, lighting, communications engineering, broadcasting,
phono, toys and measurement technology.
The Museum of Textile Art.
shows fabric dreams from 1001 Nights, as well as saris and silk, lace
and tulle. In addition, haute couture fabrics are presented, as well as
the fascinating world of Greenland outfits to space suits.
The
Nord/LB art gallery. shows works of contemporary modern art, with
artists from the bank's business area as well as internationally
renowned artists being shown.
The 25 City Gallery Kubus is a forum
for contemporary art and feels primarily committed to the Hanover art
scene. Young artists and groups of artists as well as big artists from
Hanover present their projects here.
The Steinhoff Design Museum.
describes itself as Germany's smallest design museum. The museum shows
changing exhibitions on classics from the history of design.
The
Ahlers Pro Arte / Kestner Pro Arte Foundation. is devoted to changing
exhibitions of modern art.
The Tram Museum. shows historic trams to
look at, touch and test drive.
The Theater Museum in Hanover. shows a
permanent exhibition on the history of Hanoverian theater from the 17th
century to the present day. Several temporary exhibitions throughout the
year complete the offer. The visitor gets an insight into the work of
the theater workshops, as well as into opera, drama, ballet and
concerts.
The Veterinary Medicine History Museum. shows the
development of veterinary medicine in Germany over the last 250 years
and the history of the world-famous University of Veterinary Medicine in
Hanover. Numerous exhibits from all areas of veterinary medicine are
presented.
WOK – World of Kitchen, Spichernstrasse 22. Tel.: +49
(0)511 54 30 08 58. The kitchen museum shows 60 different original
kitchens from prehistoric times to the modern day, from all nations and
continents, as well as kitchens from myths and fairy tales. There is
also an insight into the production of crystal, table silver and
porcelain. But nutrition, especially for children, is also a big issue.
There is a small planetarium for those interested in space. in the
Bismarck School, which is only open on certain dates throughout the
year.
1 Hannover Zoo online. In addition to the Tiergarten, which is free
of charge, there is also the Zoological Garden in Hanover. The site is
so extensive that you should plan a whole day to visit the facility.
After numerous awards, the adventure zoo in Hanover can call itself
Germany's No. 1 themed zoo. The zoo has already won the Park Scout Award
as “Germany's best zoo” five times. The zoo consists of 7 themed areas
with different landscapes: Zambezi (here you can drive past the animals
in boats in boats), Jungle Palace (with the Maharaja's state hall),
Gorilla Mountain (with jungle house), Meyer's Hof, Outback, Mullewapp
and Yukon Bay (with underwater world ). They are intended to bring
visitors closer to the fauna of the world in an environment that is as
authentic as possible and at the same time species-appropriate. A
smaller themed area is the lido. The zoo also has a tropical house with
free-flying parrots, an aviary for birds of prey, three summer toboggan
runs, the Brodelburg adventure playground and around 30 shows and
feeding shows every day. Over 3,000 animals live on an area of around 22
hectares and are viewed by over 1.5 million visitors every year. Price:
in summer for adults €26.50 or €20.50 and for children €14.50 or €18.50
(as of April 2021).
2 Eileenriede. Tel: (0)511 5331181 . The
Eilenriede has a size of 650 hectares (ha = 10,000 square meters). The
green lungs of Hanover offer relaxation from city life for walkers,
joggers, horse riders and cyclists on the forest, fitness and forest
nature trails. There are playgrounds for children at various locations
and there are also a few lawns for lazing around. The forest station in
the east of Eilenriede is particularly worth mentioning. The nature
experience museum with a handicraft and painting workshop for children
is accessible free of charge, for guided tours you pay 3€ (children 2€)
- Entrance: Kleestr. 81, 30625 Hanover.
3 zoo . The Tiergarten is a
city forest with fallow deer, red deer and a wild boar enclosure. The
entrance-free park can be reached by tram line 5 and is open in summer
from 6 a.m. and in winter from 7 a.m. until dark.
4 Maschsee. The
Maschsee lake, created in 1936 in the Leinemasch behind the new town
hall, attracts water sports enthusiasts as well as strolling, cycling or
jogging along its banks.
City Park with the Rosarium and Japanese
Tea Garden
Hermann Loens Park in Kirchrode
Maschpark at the New
Town Hall
Cross Garden in Marienwerder
Old Bult with the Hiroshima
Memorial Grove
District Park Möhringsberg
Vahrenwalder Park with
perennials, meadows and fountains
Von-Alten-Garten in Linden with
relics (gatehouses, garden terrace) from the destroyed castle of the von
Alten noble family
Willi Spahn Park
EXPO Gardens - Consists of the
Gardens in Transition (designed by landscape architect Camel Louafi),
the EXPO Park South and the Parc Agricole.
Herrenhausen Gardens
The facilities can be reached from Kröpcke with the tram line 4 or 5.
You can get off at the Universität station and first see the
Welfenschloss with the Welfengarten behind it. It is better to get off
at the Schneiderberg station, as you have reached the middle of the park
and can take a walk to the Great Garden. If you want to save yourself
this walk (duration approx. 30 to 45 minutes), you simply drive two
stations further and come directly to the Great Garden and Berggarten.
It is best to wear comfortable (sturdy) shoes for all gardens, otherwise
you might not be able to endure the tour through the extensive grounds.
Big garden
The Great Garden is an important European baroque
garden. In addition to numerous special gardens, the most well-known
parts of the Great Garden are the Great Parterre, the Orange Parterre,
the Maze and the Nouveau Jardin. The large fountain there reaches a peak
height of up to 80 meters, making it the highest garden fountain in
Europe. The historic grotto in the northwest of the Great Garden was
redesigned in 2003 according to plans by the artist Niki de Saint
Phalle. Created in 1676, the site was used for enchantment and as a cool
retreat from the heat. The three rooms were originally decorated with
shells, crystals, glass and minerals. However, the decorations were
already removed in the 18th century. The two corner pavilions by Louis
Remy de la Fosse, the historic garden theatre, the gallery building with
the Golden Gate, the Arne Jacobsen foyer, the orangery and Herrenhausen
Palace are also located in the Great Garden.
A few Tipps:
The
fountain and the water features are open from the end of March to the
beginning of October
Monday - Friday 11am - 12pm and 3pm - 5pm
Saturdays/ Sundays/ public holidays 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. - 5
p.m.
Arrange your visit to the garden so that you experience the
start of the fountain (the highest garden fountain in Europe).
The
International Fireworks Competition: Admission is at around 6:00 p.m.,
leaving guests around an hour to stroll through the garden.
Pyrotechnicians from all over the world compete against each other on
five different dates between May and September. Each participating
nation first completes a compulsory program with a fixed musical
accompaniment, after which the nations can present themselves in an
individual freestyle. There is also a diverse supporting program with a
mixture of cabaret and music. The garden is then illuminated while
baroque music plays in the background.
The Small Festival in the
Great Garden is the most successful cabaret festival in Germany with
over 100 artists from numerous nations on around 30 stages. It is not
suitable for visiting the garden for the first time as it is an
attraction in itself.
Information about the gardens on the website of
the city of Hanover.
Mountain garden
The Berggarten is one of
the oldest botanical gardens in Germany. There are a total of around
12,000 plant species in the Berggarten. There is the tropical show
house, the cactus show houses, the orchid show house with free-flying
birds and one of the largest orchid collections in Europe and the Canary
House. In addition to numerous themed gardens, there is Germany's oldest
prairie garden, the Schmuckhof and the Staudengrund, one of the oldest
gardens of its kind in Europe. The world's first cultivation of African
violets began in Hanover in 1890. The Sea Life Center opened in 2007
with over 3,500 freshwater and saltwater tropical fish. The Welf
mausoleum and the library pavilion are also located in the Berggarten.
Georgengarten
The Georgengarten is laid out in the manner of an
English landscape park. It contains the Leibniz Temple, the
Georgenpalais and the Herrenhäuser Allee, which is almost two kilometers
long and on which carriage rides are offered in summer.
Seen from
the Schneiderberg station, the Großer Garten is on the right
(north-west) and Königsworther Platz is on the left (south-east). If you
continue straight ahead (southwest) from this station, you will reach
the Wilhelm Busch Museum. From the museum, you can follow one of the
paths in a northwesterly direction and get to the Leibniz Temple. This
is on a small island and is a nice motif for a souvenir photo. From the
Leibniz Temple, continue in a northwesterly direction so that after
about 10 to 15 minutes you will reach the Great Garden.
Open
facility, no entry fee.
Welfengarten
In the Welfengarten is
the 29 Welfenschloss, which today serves as the main building of the
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University in Hanover. Like the Georgengarten,
the park is laid out in the English style. Worth a visit to photograph
the castle.
There are over thirty theaters and a large number of independent
theater groups in Hanover without a fixed venue.
The Lower Saxony
State Theater (founded in 1852 as the Royal Court Theater) is a
multi-genre theatre. The “drama” section (called the Hanover Theater) is
used in the Hanover theater and the “opera” section (called the Hanover
State Opera) is used in the opera house. In 2020, the Hanover State
Opera won the international "Oper!" Award as "Opera House of the Year".
The "Junge Schauspiel" and the "Junge Oper" use Ballhof one and Ballhof
two, and "Cumberland" is used for small productions and readings. The
Klassik Open Air in the Maschpark (until 2019 NDR Klassik Open Air) is
an open-air opera that has been held since 2014 and also broadcast on
television, until 2019 on NDR and from 2021 on Arte and 3sat. Famous
actors who made their debut on Hanover's stages include Theo Lingen and
Wolfgang Völz. In 1688 Agostino Steffani became opera conductor. His
opera Enrico Leone was first performed in Hanover in 1689. From 1831
Heinrich August Marschner was court conductor at the Leineschloss. Two
of his operas were premiered in Hanover.
The Garden Theater
(open-air hedge theatre) in the Great Garden is used for various
theatrical productions.
The New Theater across from the Opera
House is Hanover's boulevard theater. The Theater am Aegi does not have
its own ensemble and is a venue for touring artists and ensembles.
In addition to the classic theaters, there is a diverse independent
theater scene. The following theaters have joined forces under the label
"Freies Theater Hannover": "Commedia Futura" and "Landerer & Company" in
the Eisfabrik, the "Theater Fenster zur Stadt" in the old gas station,
the "Figurentheater Neumond" in the Theatrio-Figurentheaterhaus , the
"Klecks-Theater" in the children's theater house, the "Theater an der
Glocksee", the "Quartier Theater", the "Theater in der List", the
"Theaterwerkstatt Hannover" in the pavilion as well as some ensembles
without a fixed venue.
Other free theaters include the backstage
with the Flunderboll Theater in the southern part of the city, the
studio theater of the University of Music, Drama and Media at the EXPO
Plaza, the Merz Theater, the Nordstadt Theater in the public school, and
the Hannoversche Kammerspiele in the old town Magazine, the acceptance
of goods on the Faust site and the Wednesday theater on the Lindener
Berg.
With the Long Night of Theater and the Festival
Theaterformen (alternating with Braunschweig), there are two events that
combine several performance venues and ensembles.
Dance and
ballet performances are shown by the ballet department of the Lower
Saxony State Theater (called the Hanover State Ballet) in the opera
house. In the free area there is the Compagnie Fredeweß in the Ahrberg
district. With the Easter Dance Days and the international competition
for choreographers, there are two international dance events every year.
The international dance festival Tanztheater International was held from
1985 to 2022.
Cabaret has been shown since the mid-1920s (with an interruption) in
the GOP Varieté Theater in Hanover. It is not only the only variety
theater in Germany that is still located at the original location from
the 1920s to 1950s, but also the parent company of the nationwide
operating GOP Entertainment Group. Not only because of the "GOP" Hanover
is considered a stronghold of the cabaret scene. Numerous theaters, such
as the Leibniz-Theater, the cabaret stage in Hanover, the Marlene, the
Kanapee or the Uhu-Theater für cabaret have specialized in cabaret. The
winter variety show organized by the GOP takes place every year in the
Herrenhausen Orangery, and the Limelight Variete plays in a circus tent
behind the youth center. Desimo's Spezial Club in the Lindener
Apollokino has offered comedians a stage since 2002. The Kleiner Fest in
the Großer Garten, developed in the mid-1980s, is regarded as the
highlight of the Hanover cabaret scene. It is an international cabaret
festival with over 100 artists on around 30 stages and takes place
annually in July.
Political cabaret has been shown on Hanover's
cabaret stage in the Theater am Küchengarten (TAK) since 1987; the
predecessor from 1975 to 1987 was the Theater an der Bult (TAB), which
no longer exists.
The "Musical Factory Hannover" in the Sofa Loft was opened in 2017 and is Hannover's first pure musical theater. The small theater focuses on Off-Broadway productions, the musicals Non(n)sens (2017) and Blues Brothers (2018) were shown in the first two seasons. There are regular musical guest performances by various ensembles in the "Theater am Aegi" and in the cupola hall, but also occasionally in the ZAG Arena and the Swiss Life Hall. Since 2012 there has been a different children's Christmas musical every year from November to January in the GOP Varieté-Theater in Hanover. Scrooge, The Prince and the Wild Girl and The Jungle Book. In the past, the Shakespeare summer musicals by Heinz Rudolf Kunze and Heiner Lürig were particularly well known in the garden theater (A Midsummer Night's Dream, 2003-2006 under the direction of the then Landesbühne Hannover and 2010-2014 under the direction of "Hannover Concerts"; clothes are made Love or: What you want (2007-2008) under the direction of the Theater für Niedersachsen and Der Sturm (2011) under the direction of "Hannover Concerts"). In 2018, the duo Kunze/Lürig presented Wie es dich dich, the fourth Shakespeare summer musical, at the Theater am Aegi. In 2011, Peter Weck brought the musical Cats to Hanover (they were played in a special theater tent on Waterlooplatz), but the musical Stadtrevue (from 2004 in what was then the Hanover State Theater) was also known nationwide.
Movie theater
The first cinema in Hanover opened on August 18, 1896. Since then,
the cinema landscape in Hanover has changed significantly over the
years. Before the outbreak of the Second World War there were 32 cinemas
in Hanover, after that only nine. The actual heyday began in 1948. More
and more cinemas opened and in the 1950s Hanover became the leading film
premiere city in Germany. From the 1990s, cinemas began dying again.
Today there are nine cinemas in Hanover, including two multiplex cinemas
with ten screens each, the Cinemaxx on Raschplatz since 2000 and the
premium cinema "Astor Grand Cinema" since 2014, which is located in the
premises of the 1991 Hans-Joachim Flebbe opened and closed in 2013, the
first Cinemaxx multiplex cinemas in Germany. According to a ranking
published in 2020 by the consumer portal testreports.de, the "Astor
Grand Cinema" is in 7th place and thus in the top 10 of the most popular
cinemas in Germany. The Hochhaus-Lichtspiele are a program cinema and
are located on the tenth floor of the indicator high-rise building and
are the highest cinema in Germany at 33.88 meters above street level.
The cinema on Raschplatz, which opened in 1978, has four halls and was
voted Germany's best art house cinema in 2018. Other arthouse cinemas
are the Apollo cinema in Linden, which opened in 1908, and the PuKi -
Puschenkino in Waldheim, which reopened in 2013 after a long break. The
municipal cinema in the Künstlerhaus, which opened in 1974, and the
cinema in the Sprengel, which opened in 1992, are non-commercial
cinemas. The Unikino Hannover has been run by students from Leibniz
University for many years.
The international young film festival
up-and-coming has been taking place in Hanover since 1991, at which the
“German Young Film Prize” has been awarded every two years since 2005.
Other film festivals in Hanover include the international children's
film festival Seepferdchen (since 2000) and the gay and lesbian film
festival Perlen (since 1997). At the Seh-Fest on the park stage in
Hanover, films are shown as an open-air cinema in summer.
The city maintains leisure centers in several parts of the city. Clubs and other groups can rent rooms here for events. They are in Döhren, Ricklingen, Stöcken, Vahrenwald, at the Lister Turm and in Linden-Limmer. The leisure center Linden is the first leisure center in Germany. There is also the youth center in Südstadt, founded in 1951.
In 2014, UNESCO awarded Hanover the title of "UNESCO City of Music". Reasons for this were u. a. the wide range of all genres from pop and rock to jazz to early music, classical and new music as well as the numerous jobs in the music industry.
The Hanover State Orchestra of Lower Saxony, founded in 1636 as a
court orchestra, plays in the opera house. The radio orchestra of the
NDR, founded in 1950, plays classical music in the large broadcasting
hall of the NDR as the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover and modern
arrangements as the NDR Pops Orchestra. Other representatives of
classical music are the Hannover Young Symphony Orchestra, the
Hannoversche Hofkapelle, the chamber orchestra Musica Alta Ripa and the
baroque orchestra La festa musicale. Hanover also has a diverse choir
scene, including the internationally renowned choirs Hanover Boys'
Choir, Hanover Girls' Choir, Hanover Bach Choir and the North German
Figural Choir. With almost 3,600 seats, the cupola hall in the HCC is
one of the largest classical concert halls in Germany. Two other concert
halls are available for guest orchestras: the Leibniz Hall in the HCC
and the gallery building in the Herrenhausen Gardens. The International
Joseph Joachim Violin Competition has been held since 1991. Other events
include classical music in the old town with 30 concerts, the Hanover
Choir Days since 2009 with almost 50 choirs and the Hanover Opera Ball
since the late 1980s. Since 1991, the Chopin Society has organized the
Klassik open air in the Georgengarten every year and the International
Piano Competition every two years. The Norddeutscher Rundfunk organizes
the annual Hanover Proms in the large broadcasting hall. Since 2019,
Europe's largest industry meeting for choral music, chor.com, has been
taking place in Hanover every two years, and in 2022 the Musikmesse
Classical:Next took place in Hanover, it is the leading international
industry meeting for classical music.
From 1710 to 1712 the
composer Georg Friedrich Handel was Kapellmeister at the court of
Elector Georg Ludwig von Hanover. During this time Handel wrote, among
other things, a series of vocal duets and conducted palace concerts in
the Leine Palace. From 1852 to 1866 Joseph Joachim was the royal concert
master in Hanover. Together with Johannes Brahms, who was often in
Hanover at the time, they developed the orchestration for his Piano
Concerto No. 1, which premiered in Hanover in 1859. Other conductors in
Hanover include Wilhelm Sutor (1818-1828), Heinrich Aloys Praeger
(1828-1831) and Hans von Bülow (1877-1879). Hanover was also one of
Clara Schumann's most important venues, and Robert Schumann's last trip
was also to Hanover.
In 1942 the German Swing Club Hannover was founded, which then became
the German Hot Club Hannover in 1946. When the club ceased its program
at the end of the 1950s, a new jazz club was founded in 1957, which
eventually became today's Jazz Club Hannover auf dem Lindener Berg in
1966. Thanks to the commitment of its long-standing chairman, Michael
Gehrke, Hanover has become a German jazz stronghold. In 1978, the Jazz
Club and Michael Gehrke received honorary citizenship from New Orleans.
With around 50,000 visitors a year, the jazz festival Enercity Swinging
Hannover on Trammplatz is northern Germany's largest open-air jazz
festival and has been held annually on Ascension Day since 1967. The
evening before there is the Jazz Night in the cupola hall of the HCC.
Other jazz events include since 1992 the Hanover Jazz Week in various
clubs, the summer festival of the Hanover Jazz Club, the Döhren Jazz
Festival and since 2015 the international Sideways Avantgarde Jazz
Festival. There are also regular jazz concerts and sessions in the
Tonhalle Hannover, in the Rampe and in the Marlene. In 1985, the Hanover
University of Music, Drama and Media was one of the first universities
to offer jazz as a subject, after a jazz seminar had already been
initiated at the university in 1971. Since 1967, the Jazztage Hannover
has been an integral part of the Hanover jazz scene for almost 30 years.
In the mid-1990s, the Jazztage was reduced to the Hot Advent festival
and finally discontinued completely in 2007.
The Hanover Big
Band, which has existed since 1987 around bandleader Lothar Krist, and
the various music formations of Knut Richter are at home in Hanover. The
band After Hours became known through their collaboration with Roger
Cicero (from 2004). But the Bourbon Skiffle Company and Axel Prasuhn
also come from the Hanover scene. The NDR Big Band, which is actually
based in Hamburg, has had its own concert series in Hanover since 2018
(in the small broadcasting hall of the NDR). In April 1924, Alex Hyde
was the first American jazz artist to play in Germany at the Tivoli near
Königstraße. Many jazz musicians later recorded their records at
Deutsche Grammophon in Hanover, including the first joint record by
German and American jazz artists in 1955. As early as 1948, northern
Germany's first public jam session of the post-war period took place in
Hanover. Numerous jazz musicians lived and worked in Hanover, including
the trumpeters Jochen Rose (from 1960) and Billy Mo (from the 1970s),
the saxophonist Joe Viera (1971-1997), the musician Champion Jack Dupree
(from 1975) and the blues musician Louisiana Red (from 1981). The
vibraphonist Lionel Hampton composed the Eisbein-Boogie in Hanover in
1974, the first bar of which he immortalized in the city's Golden Book.
The bassist Jimmy Woode also worked in Hanover and recorded a CD here
together with the saxophonist Stephan Abel in 2005. Chet Baker gave his
last two concerts at the NDR radio station in Hanover in 1988 before he
died tragically in Amsterdam. Some jazz musicians have dedicated pieces
to Hannover, including Trevor Richards' Hannover Boogie, Ferdinand
Havlík's Swinging Hannover, Joe Viera's Blues for Hannover, and Lee
Konitz's Hannover Square and Hannover Place. Fritz Rau described Hanover
as the "secret capital of jazz".
Founded in 1965, the hard rock/heavy metal band Scorpions call
Hanover their home and later gained worldwide fame with songs like Wind
of Change. The 1970s in Hanover were musically influenced by bands from
the hard and progressive rock area, such as Jane, Eloy, Ramses or
Epitaph, originally from Dortmund. In the 1980s, a scene developed that
produced internationally known groups such as Fury in the Slaughterhouse
and Terry Hoax as well as Neue Deutsche Welle bands such as Combo
Colossale, Hans-A-Plast and Steinwolke and soloists such as Heinz Rudolf
Kunze. Hard rock and heavy metal were also always a topic, as shown by
the bands Thunderhead and Sargant Fury, which were also founded in the
1980s. The techno band Scooter was formed in the mid-1990s. Singer Wyn
Hoop represented Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1960 and came
fourth. The singer Lena Meyer-Landrut represented Germany at the
Eurovision Song Contest 2010 and at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. In
2010 she won it with 246 points, in 2011 she came tenth. In 2001, 2013
and 2015 the German preliminary decision for the Eurovision Song Contest
and in 2008 the Bundesvision Song Contest took place in Hanover.
Mousse T. has made a name for himself as a representative of the house
and disc jockey scene. In the area of lounge music, the Mo' Horizons
honored their city with the title Bosshannover. Other music groups were
or are Abfallende Brieftauben, Spice, The Jinxs and Marquess. Country
musician Gunter Gabriel worked and studied in Hanover. During this time
he wrote his first hit. Maybebop was founded in Hanover in 1992. Other
musicians who are or were active in Hanover include Marc Terenzi, The
Kelly Family, John Kay and Spax.
The largest pop festival in
Hanover is the NDR 2 Plaza Festival at the Expo Plaza. The N-Joy
Starshow also takes place there every year. The ferryman's festival has
been an annual open-air festival in Linden since 1983 at the beginning
of August with almost 20 bands. The Fête de la Musique, which has also
been taking place in Hanover since 2008, has now developed into one of
the largest events of its kind with around 1,000 musicians on 40 stages.
The Musik 21 Festival takes place every two years in Hanover. The
International A Cappella Week has been taking place in Hanover since
2001, combining several styles.
A committed indie scene can be
found in the FAUST cultural center, in the Glocksee, in the Béi Chéz
Heinz, the UJZ Kornstraße, the music center and in the Sturmglocke in
Nordstadt.
Concerts take place on Hanover's large and small
stages: Gilde Parkbühne Hannover, Swiss Life Hall, Capitol, Pavillon,
FAUST, Béi Chéz Heinz, Lux, Strangriede Stage and Musikzentrum Hannover.
The ZAG Arena and the Heinz von Heiden Arena are used for major
concerts.
Many musicians have shot music videos in Hanover. For
example Fury in the Slaughterhouse ("Radio Orchid" and "When I'm Dead
and Gone"), The Kelly Family (I Can't Help Myself), Melanie C (First Day
of My Life), Coldplay (Everglow) , You Silence I Bird (Last Night), Mark
'Oh (Many & Randy), Kool Savas (Krone), Bruno Breitklops (I drive a
moped, across Hanover) and Avantasia (Dying for an Angel).
From
1995 to 2022, the two-week Masala World Beat Festival took place in and
around Hanover once a year. With over 10,000 visitors annually, it was
one of the largest world music festivals in Europe. The BootBooHook
Festival, held from 2008 to 2012, was one of the largest indie pop,
songwriter, punk and ska festivals with up to 50 bands.
The field of folk music includes folk songs such as The Merry Hanoverians, In Hanover on the Leine or We are still real Lower Saxony and instrumental pieces such as Hanoverian Guardsmen, Hanover Fair, Im Leinetal or the Hanoverian King's Salute. Marches related to Hanover are the Lower Saxony March, the march of the Hanover Cambridge Dragoon Regiment or the march of the Hanover Garde du Corps. Among other things, the Hanover Army Music Corps is stationed in Hanover. The international marching music festival Music Parade of the Nations existed for 34 years. In 2009 the music parade took place for the last time as an independent event.
The Hanoverian Emil Berliner emigrated to the USA in 1870 and invented the record and the gramophone there in 1887. In 1898 he and his brother founded the record production company Deutsche Grammophon in Hanover. In 1972 it became Polygram, which then became part of the Universal Music Group in 1998. The history of Duesenberg Guitars began in Hanover in 1986. Electric basses and electric guitars, among other things, are still made there today. Prominent buyers include Bon Jovi and Rod Stewart. The nationally known concert agencies include Hannover Concerts and Pro Musica. With SPV or Peppermint Jam there are also internationally known record labels in Hanover.
According to a widespread opinion, the colloquial language in Hanover
and the surrounding area is "the best high German", as it comes
particularly close to the standard written German language. The linguist
Herbert Blume attributes this to the fact that Lower Saxon had the most
suitable stock of sounds for the High German written language developed
from the Saxon office language in the early modern period. Therefore,
from the end of the 18th century, standard German would have prevailed
as the colloquial language of the urban elite. The Germanist Kristin
Kopf, on the other hand, is of the opinion that because of the great
difference between the written language and the native language of
Hanover, the unfamiliar writing was pronounced exactly according to the
familiar letter values in accordance with learning a foreign language
and thus had the distance between what was written and what was written
- which persists in the South abolished what was said. Around 1800, the
spoken language of the northern German capitals generally became the
model for the pronunciation of High German, according to the Germanist
Claus Ahlzweig, and Hanover, as its most prestigious in the middle of
the 19th century, established itself as an example, even if Michael
Elmentaler and Dieter Stellmacher pointed it out point out that the
colloquial language of Hanover is not "purer" than that of other
northern German cities: Hanover's special position - first named by Karl
Philipp Moritz in 1792 - is a "linguistic myth". The language situation,
which was dominated by Low German, changed when the upper classes in the
cities of Hanover and Braunschweig developed the written language into a
colloquial language and gave up Low Saxon. The grammar was influenced by
East Westphalia, while the pronunciation, according to the DTV Atlas
Deutsche Sprache, mixed Upper Saxon with the region's East Westphalia.
Low German dialects are hardly ever spoken in Hanover, but their
variants characterize the dialects of the city and the surrounding area.
The dialect-colored colloquial language of the city of Hanover is
called Hannöversch, a mixture of dialects, sociolects and standard
German. According to the local historian Georg Ludewig, it incorporates
elements of the local lingua franca that formally come from High German
and in terms of vocabulary from Low German – in the local variant of the
Calenberger Platt – and non-German takeovers, in particular from French.
The Germanist Dieter Stellmacher calls this language, which was
developed in the 18th and 19th centuries, "Verhochdeutschtes Platt",
which was widely used in Hanover up to the First World War. In 1919
Theodor Lessing wrote his joking Jäö or how a Frenchman set out to learn
the “raanste” German in Hanover as “Theodore le Singe” and in it set a
monument to the pronunciation of the Hanoverian language. Since then,
usage has declined, but was still clearly discernible in speech samples
from 1961, according to Elmentaler. According to Stellmacher, it had
already died out as a functioning means of communication by 2012, even
if it survived in fragments, for example in its parody by the radio
comedy duo Siggi and Raner.
To commemorate Hanover's writers, the
city awarded the Gerrit Engelke Prize from 1978 to 2005 and the Hölty
Prize since 2008. The annual Buchlust takes place in the Künstlerhaus, a
fair for independent publishers from Lower Saxony and a changing host
state.
Numerous fairy tales are also set in and around Hanover,
which were collected and later published by the brothers Carl and
Theodor Colshorn in the 19th century.
The artist and poet Kurt
Schwitters developed a Dadaistic “overall picture of the world” under
the keyword “Merz”. A large part of his estate and the reconstruction of
his Merz building are in the Sprengel Museum, his grave is in the town
cemetery of Engesohde. In honor of Hannah Arendt there is, among other
things, the Hannah Arendt Room in the Hanover City Library with
information boards on her life and work as well as numerous photographs.
In addition, the Hannah Arendt Days are held annually. The centrally
located Hannah-Arendt-Platz, where the Leineschloss with the Lower
Saxony state parliament is also located, is named after Hannah Arendt.
Charlotte Buff, model for Lotte in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's The
Sorrows of Young Werther, moved to Hanover in 1773 to marry August
Kestner. Her grave is in the garden cemetery. Wilhelm Busch studied in
Hanover from 1847 to 1851, Adolph Knigge published the work “On Dealing
with People” here in 1788, Joachim Ringelnatz worked here as a librarian
in 1913 and Ernst Jiinger’s novel “Die Zwille” is set in Hanover.
Hermann Löns lived in Hanover with a break from 1892. Erich Maria
Remarque worked at Continental AG from 1922 and wrote advertising texts
and comics. Heinrich Christian Boie worked as State Secretary in Hanover
and Ludwig Hölty spent the last years of his life in Hanover. Karl Jakob
Hirsch paints a lively portrait of Hanoverian society in the late
Imperial period in his novel Kaiserwetter from 1931. Vicki Baum lived in
Hanover from 1917 to 1923 and wrote her first novel "Fruhe Schatten"
during that time. Johann Peter Eckermann lived in Hanover for a few
years from 1814. Rudolf Erich Raspe worked in Hanover as a librarian and
later as a secretary. Gerrit Engelke's estate is located in the Engelke
Archive of the Hanover City Library. Frank Wedekind spent the early
years of his childhood in Hanover. The brothers August Wilhelm Schlegel
and Friedrich Schlegel are considered co-founders of German Romanticism.
The novel Anton Reiser by Karl Philipp Moritz is set in Hanover.
Hanover has a long brewing tradition. In 1526, Cord Broyhan invented
a light, top-fermented beer that became one of the city's export hits.
In 1546 he co-founded the brewers' guild, from which the brewery guild
developed. There is also the Herrenhausen Brewery, founded in 1868,
which was bought by the Wittinger private brewery after insolvency
proceedings. Traditional companies such as the Kaiser brewery, the
Lindener Aktien brewery or the Wülfeler brewery were closed, but there
are two guesthouse breweries (the Ernst August brewery in the old town
and Meiers Lebenslust on Aegidientorplatz) as well as the Mashsee
brewery in the southern part of the city and the Brewery cooperative
Nordstadt brews! The Lüttje Lage, in which beer and schnapps are drunk
from two glasses at the same time, arose from the custom of drinking
Broyhan beer together with brandy. Other alcoholic specialties in
Hanover include numerous spirits from various manufacturers.
Tee-Seeger was founded in 1743, making it the oldest tea shop in
Germany. Since 1919 there has been a branch of Danziger Machwitz Kaffee,
whose coffee roastery has been based at the Marstall since 1950. The
private roastery was founded by Erhard Ulbrich in 1956 and the
Hannoversche Kaffee-Manufaktur in 2012.
The Calenberger pancake,
the Hanoverian pea soup and the Hanoverian tongue ragout belong to the
Hanoverian cuisine. In Hanover, kale is eaten with Bregenwurst. The
Cumberland sauce is a savory table sauce. The bouillon sausage, which
used to be produced exclusively by the Fritz Ahrberg sausage factory, is
now produced by various butchers. The Hannoversche Weißgekochte is part
of a slaughterhouse in Hanover. It is thanks to Gerhard Schröder's
preference for currywurst with fries that many restaurants in Hanover
and later also nationwide called the dish Kanzlerplatte. The carp from
the Maschsee are considered a fish specialty. Barley bread is a Hanover
bread specialty.
The sweet specialties include Hitjepuppen, the
Guelph dish, the truffle specialties from Truffle Güse (since 1921) and
the pastry specialties from Bahlsen, including the Leibniz biscuit since
1891. Bahlsen invented the cold dog dessert in the 1920s.
On the
edge of the old town, the market hall was reopened in 1954, in which
there are 73 market stalls on 4000 square meters.
There are over
800 gastronomic establishments in Hanover, including three star
restaurants that are listed in the Michelin Guide (as of 2023). The
"Jante" on Marienstraße (head chef Tony Hohlfeld), which opened in 2015,
and the "Votum" restaurant each have two stars, while the "Handwerk"
restaurant has one star.
February
carnival parade
April:
Spring festival - fair (fairground) on the Schützenplatz.
Ascension:
Swinging Hannover - Jazz Festival in front of the New Town
Hall.
June:
Dragon boat race - on the Maschsee.
Masala - One of
the largest world music festivals in Europe
May to September:
International fireworks competition in the Great Garden.
July:
Schützenfest Hannover - the largest rifle festival in the world.
"Little Festival in the Big Garden" - The most successful cabaret
festival in Germany.
July to August:
Maschseefest - various events
around the Maschsee.
Seh-Fest - open-air cinema with a picnic
atmosphere, films for every taste are shown on several evenings.
Street Mag Show at Schützenplatz
September to October:
Oktoberfest
- The second largest Oktoberfest in Germany; Fair (Rummel) on the
Schützenplatz.
December:
Christmas market - in the old town, on
Ernst-August-Platz and on the Lister Meile; Vegan Christmas market on
Steintorplatz
General The city of Hanover offers a large number of public
libraries.
Opening times The opening hours of the various city
libraries can be found here.
Prices Borrowing is free for
children and for a small fee per year for adults.
Borrowing
Borrowing takes place in the various libraries on site, mostly at
computer terminals. The city library now also has the Internet service
E@usleihe for lending digital content over the Internet. You can also
make renewals and pre-orders via the Internet with the help of an online
portal.
further activities
Cultural centers - Hanover has a
number of cultural centers with different, changing programs. The best
known of these are the Pavilion and the Faust.
Sports - Zig clubs
have a wide variety of sports in the program. A comprehensive brochure
can be requested from the city of Hanover for a small fee. The HDI-Arena
(formerly the Lower Saxony Stadium), which was completely redesigned for
the 2006 World Cup, has 50,000 covered seats and is the home of Hannover
96 (1st Bundesliga). The TUI Arena on the Expo site has space for around
16,000 spectators.
Ice Sports - From September to February, ice
hockey and ice skating in the ice rink.
Flea market - The "Am Hohen
Ufer" flea market is the oldest flea market in Germany and takes place
every Saturday from 7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
By plane
The airport (IATA code: HAJ) is located north of
Hanover in Langenhagen. From there you can take a taxi (approx. €
20) or the S-Bahn line 5 to the city center / main
station (€ 3.40 (as of March 2016, GVH price overview).
By
train
The main train station is located in the center of Hanover
and, as a junction, is also a transfer station: to the north Hamburg
and Bremen, to the east via Magdeburg or without a stop with the ICE
from Berlin, to the south Göttingen, Kassel, Frankfurt, Munich and
to the west Bielefeld, Ruhr area, Osnabrück and - via Hilversum -
from Amsterdam.
Hanover main station is also the departure and
destination station of the Hanover Southern Railway, the historic
railway line from Hanover via Göttingen to Kassel and back that is
used by regional traffic today.
Hanover-Langenhagen Airport and
the exhibition grounds can be reached by S-Bahn from the main
station. See also S-Bahn and Regionalbahn Hannover.
The
Hanover-Messe / Laatzen station is also served by regional traffic
from Göttingen, Hildesheim and the main station; Long-distance
trains also stop on demand at trade fairs.
By bus
The bus
station (so-called ZOB, Zentraler Omnibusbahnhof) with international
connections and regular service is located directly behind the main
station in the city center on Raschplatz.
By street
To the
east of Hanover, the A 7 runs past Hamburg – Kassel. It crosses the
A 2 Dortmund – Berlin, which runs along north. The city's expressway
network consists of three roads which, together with the A2, form a
ring around the inner city districts:
The Messeschnellweg is
the continuation of the B 3 from Celle (coming from the north) and
connects the A 2 and the A 7 (coming from the south) to the east
with the exhibition center. From the Südschnellweg the B 3 becomes
the B 6 and continues to Hildesheim.
The Westschnellweg, on the
other hand, runs as the B 6 coming from Nienburg and Neustadt
through the western part of Hanover. At the Südschnellweg it becomes
the B 3 towards Göttingen.
The Südschnellweg, which begins on the
Westschnellweg, crosses the Messeschnellweg and ends at the symbol:
AS 12 Hannover-Anderten of the A 7.
Since January 2008, so-called
environmental zones have been set up in the city center in which
only cars with an environmental sticker are allowed. Drivers without
a sticker have to expect a fine of 40 € and a point in Flensburg.
For more information, including how to purchase the particulate
matter ticker, see www.hannover.de/de/umwelt_bauen. Entry into the
zone is only permitted with the green sticker.
Similar to
Hamburg and Braunschweig, a city ring runs around the city center of
Hanover.
By boat
Since Hanover is located on the
Mittelland Canal, it is theoretically possible to arrive by ship. In
fact, there are only four cargo ports. However, if you want to
arrive with your own yacht, you can drop anchor in the Hanover
marina, which is also located on the Mittelland Canal.
The
Leine is a suitable area for water hikes. It has been continuously
passable since Salzderhelden, albeit with numerous transfer points,
and can be driven on to Schwarmstedt, from where you can paddle the
Aller all the way to the Weser.
By bicycle
The
Leine-Heide-Radweg comes from Eichsfeld in Thuringia via Göttingen
and leads via Walsrode to Hamburg.
The Green Ring leads around
Hanover, leading cyclists past beautiful corners. This path can be
explored using a map, but you can also follow the blue markings
(blue lanterns, curbs, posts, manhole covers, etc.) without a map.
Public transportation
Hanover has a very dense and
well-developed local public transport network, so that you can use
public transport almost anywhere in the city.
S-Bahn and
regional trains
Hanover has had an S-Bahn network since Expo
2000. The trains may only be boarded with a valid ticket, otherwise
an increased fare is due. The S-Bahn also run outside the GVH tariff
area and then require a DB ticket, which is not valid for light rail
vehicles and buses. Regional trains can also be used with the GVH
ticket.
You can reach many destinations in Lower Saxony with
regional trains. Some lines also go to the neighboring federal
states of Bremen, Hamburg, North Rhine-Westphalia and Thuringia.
Light rail
Hanover has had an S-Bahn network since Expo 2000.
The trains may only be boarded with a valid ticket, otherwise an
increased fare is due. The S-Bahn also run outside the GVH tariff
area and then require a DB ticket, which is not valid for light rail
vehicles and buses. Regional trains can also be used with the GVH
ticket.
You can reach many destinations in Lower Saxony with
regional trains. Some lines also go to the neighboring federal
states of Bremen, Hamburg, North Rhine-Westphalia and Thuringia.
Light rail
In the light rail and local trains, the tickets
must be purchased from the machine before starting the journey, and
if necessary also validated (see imprint on the ticket). Tickets can
also be purchased from the driver on the bus. If you have two
journeys or more per day, it is usually worth buying a day ticket
instead of single tickets. There are also short-distance tickets for
short journeys (3 stops on the tram, 5 on the bus; not valid on the
S-Bahn and local trains).
The Lower Saxony ticket is also
valid in the GVH area.
Bike lanes
The cycle paths in
Hanover are extremely well developed and are highly recommended for
exploring the city by bike. Bicycles can be parked, repaired or
borrowed in the bicycle station right next to the train station (€
7.50 per day, week on request - open Monday to Friday 6 a.m. to 11
p.m., Sa / Sun 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. 3539640).
Shipping
A
special feature is the regular transport of Üstra Reisen on the
Maschsee, which is offered from Easter to the end of October and
with which you can make a round trip on the lake for 6 € (moorings
Maschsee). You can explore the Ihme, the Leine, the Mittelland Canal
and the branch canals with the Hanoverian passenger boat service.
The three-storey Ernst-August-Galerie shopping center has been in
existence since 2008.
Hanover has the largest contiguous pedestrian
zone in Germany, consisting of fifteen streets around Georgstrasse. With
Bahnhofstrasse, Grosse Packhofstrasse and Georgstrasse, Hanover has
three streets among the top 10 German metropolises in footfall counts.
The downtown shopping arcades include the
Niki-de-Saint-Phalle-Promenade, the promenade in the main train station,
the Ernst-August-Carrée, the Kröpcke-Passage, the Joachim Center and the
Luise Gallery. The Calenberger Esplanade is located in the Calenberger
Neustadt.
In the old town there is a connected pedestrian zone around
Kramerstraße.
The major shopping streets outside of the city center
are Lister Meile in List, Engelbosteler Damm in Nordstadt and
Limmerstrasse in Linden. With the Lister-Mile-Passage, the Lister
Passage and the Podbi-Park, there are also three shopping arcades in the
vicinity of the Lister Meile. Deisterstraße develops into Hanover's
fashion street with many independent Hanoverian fashion designers and
designers. A special feature is the Klein-Buchholz shopping park in the
Bothfeld district, because it is located in a former and historic bus
construction company.
Most parts of the city have various restaurants with domestic or
foreign cuisine. However, the highest concentration of Spanish or
Portuguese restaurants can be found in Linden-Süd. You can get the
latest tips from the restaurant guide Hannover geht aus!, which is
published every six months and is sold at every kiosk or newspaper
stand.
Another tip: During the trade fairs, the restaurants are
usually so crowded that reservations are a good idea. Some restaurateurs
then also take advantage of the moment and put out special trade fair
menus with special (higher) prices. If you are on a tight budget, we
recommend going to bars, bistros, cafés or pubs, almost all of which
also offer food or snacks.
For example, at the Schützenfest you
can get to know the traditional "Lüttje Lage" as a local drinking
culture. Other Hanoverian specialties are the "Hannöverssches
Leinewasser" beet brandy, the fruit brandies from the "Lister Destille"
or the numerous Hanoverian beers from the "Gilde Brewery", the
"Herrenhäuser Brewery", the "Brauhaus Ernst-August" and the pub
breweries "Meiers Lebenslust" and "Dobbecke". Hearty dishes from the
Hanoverian kitchen are the "Calenberger pancake" and the "Hannoversches
tongue ragout". The "Cumberland sauce" is a spicy table sauce. A
specialty for the Christmas holidays is the "Maschsee carp". A
traditional Hanoverian "Schlachteplatte" includes sausage specialties
from the region. A Hanoverian bread specialty is "Gersterbrot". Sweet
specialties of the Hanoverian kitchen are the "Welfenspeise" and the
"Hitjepuppen". The "Leibniz biscuit" and the "Hanover waffles" from
Bahlsen are world famous. With "Trüffel Güse", Hanover also has its own
chocolate factory. Germany's oldest tea shop, Tee-Seeger (founded in
1743), is based in Hanover. Since 1919 there has been a branch of
Machwitz Kaffee, which was founded in Danzig in 1883 and whose coffee
roastery has been based at the Marstall since 1950. In 1956 the private
roastery was founded by Erhard Ulbrich, and in 2012 the Hannoversche
Kaffee-Manufaktur.
Hanover has a multifaceted themed gastronomy.
In Hanover, for example, you can be on an airplane (Restaurant
Silbervogel in Ricklingen), on a ship (Restaurant Schifftaurant in the
yacht harbor in Hanover), in a glass pyramid (Restaurant Ginkgo), in a
Roman vault (Restaurant Quo Vadis in Misburg), in a piracy (Black Pearl
restaurant in the Kirchrode district) and in a historic knight's hall
(Excalibur restaurant in Bemerode).
The Hanover Market Hall was
reopened in 1954 and is 4,000 square meters in size. All kinds of food
are offered at 73 market stalls, such as wine, bread, cheese, fish,
vegetables, sausage or fruit. Cheese specialties from all over Europe
are available in the European Cheese Center in the Anderten district. It
is the only cheese experience center in Europe.
The "Hiller"
restaurant in Hanover, which was the first vegetarian restaurant in
Germany at the time, and the "Münchner Halle" on the exhibition grounds,
which is still the largest exhibition restaurant in the world, made
history in Hanover.
In Hanover there are many ways to eat well
and cheaply, e.g.:
Asia Garden - Chinese buffet next to the main
train station (on Ernst-August Platz). Big plate - 6€, small plate - 4€.
Kabul House - Afghan Buffet in the city center (Goethestraße 10). Here
you can eat as much as you want for €5.
Rossini Degustazione -
Homemade pasta in Hanover
Restaurant Vienna - Vienna is located in
the middle of Hanover
Cocktail bars
Oscar's, Georgstrasse 54.
Loft, Georgstr. 50b
(backyard).
Heaven Cocktailbar, Weissekreuzplatz 25 (behind
Raschplatz, diagonally across from the Pavilion/ Mezzo).
Beer
gardens
List Tower, Waldseestr. 100, List. at the edge of the
Eilenriede.
Bischofshol, Bemeroder Str.2, Bult. in the Eilenriede.
Loretta's beer garden. near the HDI-Arena, motorcycle club on weekends
in summer.
Sleeping Beauty, In den Kampen 54, Nordstadt. on a leash
since 1875.
Gretchen, Zur Bettenfederfabrik 3, Linden-Nord. nostalgic
industrial charm.
Linden Tower, Am Lindener Berge 29a, Linden-Nord.
the highest beer garden.
Pier 51, Rudolf-v.Bennigsen-Ufer 51, south
town. at the Maschsee.
See Biergarten, Arthur-Menge-Ufer 3, Südstadt.
at the Maschsee.
Wülfeler beer garden, Hildesheimerstr. 380, cube.
the ultimate rib beer garden.
Waterloo beer garden, Waterloostr. 1,
Calenberger Neustadt. the largest beer garden.
University beer
garden, Königswörther Platz, Nordstadt. not only for students.
Klein
Kröpcke, Callinstraße 2, Nordstadt, not only for students
Raschplatz (behind the train station):
Osho
discotheque. also called Baggi.
Palo Palo
Zaza club
Beer
Exchange (DAX) with Pasha
Steintorviertel - part of the red light
district, but also absolutely safe for women. For a few years now, some
of the trendiest nightclubs have been found here:
draft. Techno
club on Scholvinstraße and number 3 of the most popular discotheques in
Hanover
Heartbreak Hotel. 45 square meters and, according to
heise.de, the "crastest living room in Hanover".
Rockhouse
Havana
Zanzibar'
neighborhood club
Rage Club
eve club
Downtown
(general):
Calamari Moon Suite. in the inner courtyard of the
playhouse.
200ponies. in the inner courtyard of the Tiedthof
infinity Marktstraße near U Markthalle/Landtag.
Other with dance
floor:
willow dam. 2nd place among the best clubs in Germany (1st
place in Berghain, Berlin)
Subculture. Nordstadt (review on
Gruftbote)
acanto. list.
Hanover Capitol. Black Bear.
Ernst
August Brewery. old town.
Jazz & Blues
Hanover has an
internationally respected love of jazz, which is z. B. reflected in the
honorary citizenship of the city of New Orleans ("cradle of jazz") for
the Jazz Club and its longtime chairman Mike Gehrke.
jazz club
blues garage . (accessible only by car)
Indie, punk, rock,
reggae, ska, hip hop, live concerts
bath
At Chez Heinz
Cafe
Glocksee
fist
UJZ Kornstrasse
Edit lab info
music center
LUX
Basically, it should be said that it
is worthwhile to simply look into the numerous corner pubs, especially
in the southern part of the city, in Linden and the northern part of the
city. The variety of facilities, the mixed crowd of visitors and the
lovely range of special drinks and small dishes are so extensive that
you will always find what you are looking for, even with a spontaneous
search. The food on offer in the pubs is of excellent quality and
available late into the night. It is customary to ask the bartender or
waiter what is (still) on offer. Special requests are accepted without
batting an eyelid. People are on first-name terms, even if the employees
may be significantly younger than the guests. Exotic beers are available
almost everywhere and at reasonable prices.
Old town: The
Hannenfass, the wine hole, the tea room (tea, hot chocolate, fresh
waffles, homemade cakes...), the Schateke, the Broyhan room.
Downtown: heart's blood on the edge of Linden. Offers an exciting mix of
night owls, students and homosexuals. Pleasantly smoker-friendly.
Nordstadt: Because of the proximity to the university, most of the
student pubs are of course here. One of the oldest pubs is the Kuriosum
(the Kuri guests take part in the dragon boat race as a team), directly
opposite is the Gaststätte Kaiser (where not only professors and
doctoral students meet), the Mottenburg, the Cille (in whose premises
the Irish Pub The wild Geese has moved in), the Klein Kröpcke (large
beer garden). Newer but established pubs include the extract, What Now?,
Cheers.
Linden: Linden's bar scene is as diverse as its residents.
In addition to the Faust cultural center, there are countless kebab
shops, pubs, bars and cafés in Linden-Nord, such as Fischers,
Notre-Dame, Havana (with billiards table), Das Ei, Izarro...
...and
the Big Bad Wolf in Linden-Mitte.
Salsa, Tango & Co
Cubar. at
the Central station.
Tango mileu. on the Faust grounds.
Salsa del
alma. near Steintor.
Tango on a leash. in north town.
Club de
Tango. in north town.
Rainbows and chain rattles
BDSM regulars
and parties
Cheap
Trade fair rooms: During the trade fairs, overnight prices
skyrocket. Many trade fair visitors therefore switch to private rooms,
which are offered in large numbers. The mediation takes place through
the Hannover Tourismus Service, Tel. 0511 12345 - 111, exclusively for
the trade fairs.
Hannover International Youth Hostel,
Ferdinand-Wilhelm-Fricke-Weg 1, 30169 Hannover. Tel.: +49 (0)511 13 17
674, fax: +49 (0)511 18 555, e-mail: jh-hannover@djh-hannover.de.
ibis budget Hanover Central Station
Upscale
Hotel VIVA
CREATIVO, Im Heidkampe 80, 30659 Hanover/Bothfeld. Tel.: +49 (0)511 647
55-0, fax: +49 (0)511 647 55-15, e-mail: info@hotel-viva-creativo.de.
Kastens Hotel Luisenhof, Luisenstrasse 1-3, 30159 Hanover. Phone: +49
(0)511 3044-0, fax: +49 (0)511 3044-807, email:
info@kastens-luisenhof.de.
Maritim Airport Hotel Hanover
Hotel
Savoy. Family-run, small city hotel just a few minutes' walk from
downtown. 18 rooms, 4 apartments. Small fitness room, small sauna and
steam room with sunbathing area. Extensive freshly prepared breakfast
buffet.
Hotel Leonardo
With almost 40,000 students, Hanover is the largest university town
in Lower Saxony:
1 Leibniz University Hanover
2 Hannover Medical
School (MHH)
3 Hannover University of Applied Sciences (HsH)
4
University of Music and Theater Hanover
5 University of Veterinary
Medicine Hanover
The adult education center in Hanover offers
language courses on favorable terms.
6 TA Bildungszentrum
Hannover - non-profit association for the promotion of education and
training, Am Listholze 82, 30177 Hannover.
7 Adult education center
Stephansstift, center for adult education, Kirchröder Straße 44, 30625
Hanover. Tel.: +49 (0)511 53 53 311, fax: +49 511 53 53 596, e-mail:
rezeption@zeb.stephansstift.de.
Educational Association for Social
Learning and Communication e. V., Stadtstrasse 17, 30159 Hanover. Phone:
+49 (0)511 344 144, email: info@bildungsverein.de
Security
All
in all, as a traveler in Hanover you are probably in one of the safest
cities, so that nothing stands in the way of a carefree holiday in
Hanover.
Hanover has numerous clinics with corresponding emergency services.
In addition, the clinics of the Hannover Medical School (MHH) are
equipped with specialist and interdisciplinary emergency departments
(emergency rooms) for acute care. There is also a dense network of
pharmacies with a 24-hour emergency service. Specialists of all
disciplines are sufficiently available in the private sector.
Emergency phone no. 112
Medical emergency services - Tel. (0511) 31
40 44
The patient service (medical emergency service) - Tel. 116 117
Medical center for emergency consultations - Tel. (0511) 3 80 380
Schiffgraben 22-28, 30175 Hanover
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 7 p.m. to
midnight
Wednesday 1pm-12am
Friday 4-12 p.m
Saturday/ Sunday 8
a.m. to midnight
Dental emergency service - Tel. (0511) 31 10 31
Monday to Friday 8 p.m. to midnight
Wednesday 5-7 p.m
Saturday/
Sunday: 9am-12pm and 3pm-6pm
Tourist Information
Hanover Marketing and Tourism GmbH,
Ernst-August-Platz 8. Tel.: +49 (0)511 12345-111, Fax: +49 (0)511
12345-112. Open: Mon to Fri 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sat 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
meeting places
When Hanoverians arrange to meet each other, they
say "we'll meet..."
am Kröpcke – and mean near the Kröpcke clock,
at the intersection of Georgstraße and Bahnhofstraße, where a Mr.
Kröpcke’s coffee house used to be (and today a café of the same name)
or
under the tail - then they mean the horse tail from the
equestrian statue of King Ernst-August, directly in front of the main
entrance of the main station.
laundromats
The bar with the
launderette: Waschweiber in Limmerstr. 1 (Linden-Nord, tram line 10 to
Küchengarten). In addition to washing/drying/folding laundry, you can
also sip delicious coffee and get real French patisseries. You can also
read newspapers/magazines, watch TV or surf the Internet. And very
important: there is also a nice toilet!
In the vicinity of the
laundromat on Engelbosteler Damm 37 (Nordstadt, Stadtbahn line 6 to
Kopernikusstraße) there are a number of bars and kebab shops where you
can bridge the waiting time for the wash.
Opposite the laundromat on
Vahrenwalder Platz (corner of Kleiststr., List, Stadtbahn lines 1 and 2
to Vahrenwalder Platz) is a fairly cheap Chinese fast food restaurant
with seats.
Other: Engelhardstr. 12 (Südstadt) and Deisterstr. 72
(Ricklingen)
Miscellaneous
A larger post office is located in
the Ernst-August-Galerie right next to the main train station.
Traces of a
settlement "of no small extent" from the Roman Empire (1st to 3rd
centuries AD) were found in the area of the later old and new town of
Hanover, as the city historian Helmut Plath wrote. The remains of clay
vessels from this period were found under the Aegidienkirche. A denarius
of the Roman Emperor Severus Alexander (222-235) was recovered in an old
leash arm, which Plath considers evidence that the settlement "was
reached by trade associated with the Romans". The settlement, with an
unknown name, could be identical to the place Touliphourdon (Latin:
Tulifurdum), which the geographer Claudius Ptolemy drew in on a map of
Germania Magna from around 150 AD. Scientists from the Institute for
Geodesy at the TU Berlin localized Tulifurdum in 2010 using a new map
projection "near Hanover". In terms of linguistic history, the name was
interpreted as a combination of the Latin words tuli (“I carried”) and
furdum (“ford”), which could refer to the Leine crossing in Hanover.
Today's Hanover emerged from a medieval settlement on a
flood-protected spot on the banks of the Leine. This location probably
gave the later city of Hanover its name - Honovere = "(On) the high
shore" - but this is disputed (see naming). Nearby there was an
opportunity to cross the Leine at a shallow ford due to the only 500 m
wide lowland area and a weir. Two highways crossed there. Even today,
the street that runs parallel to the Leine at this point is called Am
Hohen Ufer. There is evidence of a market settlement at this point from
around the year 950. The Vicus Hanovere (vicus = "market town") was
first mentioned around 1150 in the Hildesheim Miracula Sancta Bernwardi.
In the 12th century, Henry the Lion had Hanover expanded and entrusted
it to the Counts of Roden, who ruled from Lauenrode Castle, a moated
castle in the Linen Lowlands near Limmer. In 1241 Hanover, as part of
the Duchy of Brunswick, received city privileges from the Duke of
Brunswick; since that time there is also evidence of a council. Towards
the end of the 13th century there were two mayors at the head of the
city. There was also a twelve-member so-called sitting council with the
governing mayor. In the Lüneburg War of Succession, the city was granted
the Great Privilege in 1371, which gave it far-reaching rights, such as
customs and mill rights and the city's fortifications.
To protect
the city, an eight meter high city wall with 34 wall towers replaced the
previously existing fortifications of palisade ramparts and ditches from
1350. From 1392, the city fortifications of Hanover also included a
militia, which secured the city forecourt. Facilities such as the tower
on the Lindener Berg, the Döhrener Turm, the Pferdeturm, the Lister Turm
and others still exist from the former Hanoverian Landwehr with
ramparts, hedges, waiting rooms and towers. At this time, the city
experienced its first economic boom and joined the Hanseatic League.
Membership probably began as early as the 13th century, but certainly in
the 14th century. Long-distance trade by Hanoverian merchants in the
15th century included, for example, the export of linen to London, the
cloth trade with Flanders, the import of furs and skins from Novgorod,
oil and wax from Norway, and herring and butter from southern Sweden.
The networking of the economy via the Hanseatic League began to decline
in the 16th century. Hanover left the Hanseatic League around 1620. In
1636 Hanover became a Guelph residence. The population rose to 4000.
During the Reformation, there was a growing tendency among the
population to accept the evangelical teachings. On June 26, 1533, a
congregation in the marketplace swore to stand by Luther's word.
Although the city's leading circles did not support the Reformation, it
was pushed through by the opposition of citizens who did not hold
political office. The city council finally had to flee to Hildesheim,
which had remained orthodox. In 1580 the “Mayor and Councilor of the
City of Hanover” signed the Lutheran Formula of Concord of 1577.
In Hanover from 1514 to 1657 at least 30 people were accused in witch
trials, 27 of them were burned at the stake or died in prison. The last
victim of the witch hunt was Alheit Snur in 1648.
During the Thirty Years' War, Duke Georg von Calenberg made the
fortress-like town his residence in 1636. In the 80 years that followed,
Hanover experienced renewed prosperity as a residential city. The
buildings from this era in Hanover's history set lasting accents in the
cityscape.
In 1676 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) was
appointed privy councilor and head of his library by Duke Johann
Friedrich. The Leipzig-born philosopher and mathematician, who among
other things invented the dual system, lived in Hanover until his death.
In 2005 the state library and in 2006 the university were named after
him.
From 1699 the council consisted of two mayors, a syndic, a
secretary, two chamberlains and six senators. From 1725 to 1761
Christian Ulrich Grupen was always one of the mayors of the city.
From 1692 Hanover was the 9th electorate of the Holy Roman Empire
(official name: Chur-Brunswick-Lüneburg, unofficially also Chur-Hanover,
Kurhannover or Hanover), after Duke Ernst August had introduced the
primogeniture as a requirement in 1682.
After Elector Georg
Ludwig ascended the British throne as George I in 1714, he moved his
residence from Hanover to London. As a result, a circle of aristocratic
and civil servant families became established in Hanover's internal
administration. The residential city, which had been heavily dependent
on the court in previous years, became more and more deserted.
Herrenhausen Palace and Gardens soon fell into disuse. It is ultimately
thanks to this circumstance that the garden was no longer remodeled in a
contemporary way and that the original baroque condition was preserved.
This changed in 1837 when, with the death of Wilhelm IV, the
123-year personal union of the kingdoms of Great Britain and Hanover
came to an end and King Ernst August I ascended the throne in Hanover.
On October 22, 1843, the railway line from Hanover to Lehrte was opened,
and on May 19, 1844, the Hanover–Brunswick railway was open to traffic.
The conservative king initially resisted the connection of his
residential city to the emerging railway network. Because of his
skepticism, the Royal Hanoverian State Railways did not plan the first
branches off in Hanover, but in Lehrte.
In 1747, Aegidienneustadt
was incorporated, followed in 1824 by Calenberger Neustadt and in 1847
by Ernst-August-Stadt. With the incorporation of the suburb of Hanover
in 1859 with the towns of Königsworth, Schloßwende, Nordfeld, Vorort,
Fernrode, Bütersworth, Kirchwende, Bult, Heidorn, Tiefenriede, Emmerberg
and Kleefeld, the city area grew from 157 to 2,354 hectares and the
number of inhabitants rose from 38,000 68,000.
Hanover was an
autonomous city within the Kingdom of Hanover. In 1823 it became the
seat of the Landdrostei Hanover, which later became the administrative
district of Hanover. In 1824 it became the seat of the Hanover Office,
which was founded by merging the Hanover Court Schulzenamt and the
Koldingen Office. From 1825 there was a Magistratskollegium in Hanover,
which lasted until 1935. During this time the head of the city of
Hanover bore the title of city director.
In the German War of 1866, the Kingdom of Hanover fought under George
V on the side of the German Confederation and Austria against Prussia
and won a Pyrrhic victory in the Battle of Langensalza, because the
Hanoverian army had to capitulate shortly after the battle. As a result,
Hanover was annexed by Prussia and thus became a Prussian province: the
royal seat of Hanover became a Prussian provincial capital.
For
Hanover's industry, the union with Prussia meant an improvement in the
general conditions. The abolition of compulsory guilds and the
introduction of freedom of trade promoted economic growth and led to the
upswing of the Gründerzeit. In the period between 1871 and 1912 the
population grew from 87,600 to 313,400. The border to a big city with
100,000 inhabitants was crossed in 1873.
The first horse tram was
inaugurated in 1872, which was further developed into an electric tram
from 1893. In 1881, Ferdinand Sichel invented the first ready-to-use
wallpaper paste.
The upswing in Hanover took place in the era of
the city director Heinrich Tramm. He was elected to this office in 1891
and held it for 27 years. During this time he was the dominant figure in
politics and administration of the city.
In 1883 Hanover became
an independent city and the seat of the district of Hanover, which had
emerged from the office of Hanover, and the administrative district of
Hanover, which had emerged from the Landdrostei Hanover.
The city
was enlarged in 1870 with the suburb of Ohe-Glocksee, followed in 1882
by Königsworther Platz and the Welfengarten, in 1891 by the communities
of Herrenhausen, Hainholz, Vahrenwald and List and on October 1, 1907 by
the communities of Stöcken, Bothfeld, Klein-Buchholz, Groß- Buchholz,
Kirchrode, Döhren and Wülfel as well as the Mecklenheide estate district
and the Kirchrode-Stadt cadastral district.
In 1902 Hermann
Bahlsen installed one of the first neon signs in Germany.
In 1920 the town of Linden with the districts of Alt- and Neu-Linden,
Limmer, Davenstedt, Badenstedt, Bornum and Ricklingen was incorporated
into Hanover. The number of inhabitants grew by about 80,000 to 400,000.
In 1928 the castle and garden district of Herrenhausen, the estate
districts of Leinhausen and Marienwerder followed, and in 1937 parts of
Bemerode and Laatzen.
Since 1918 the head of the city has been
called the Lord Mayor and no longer the City Manager. The first mayor
was the social democrat Robert Leinert. Arthur Menge of the conservative
DHP followed in 1925 and remained in office until 1937. In 1936, during
Menge's tenure, the construction of the Maschsee, made possible by job
creation measures, and the establishment of the Hermann-Löns-Park took
place.
From a cultural point of view, Hanover was a "suburb of
modernity" in the 1920s, in particular because of Kurt Schwitters. His
Dadaism, his magazine MERZ and the group he founded, the abstract
hannover, had a worldwide reputation.
From 1937 the NSDAP mayors belonged to the Lord Mayors
Henricushaltenhoff, Ludwig Hoffmeister and Egon Bönner (1942-1945 "State
Commissioner"). As everywhere in Germany, numerous minorities were also
persecuted in Hanover. 484 Hanoverian Jews of Polish origin were
deported to Poland as part of the "Poland Action" at the end of October
1938, including the Grünspan family. Their second eldest son Herschel
Grynszpan was in Paris. When he found out that his family was being
expelled, he drove to the German embassy and shot Legation Counselor
Ernst Eduard vom Rath, who died two days later. The Nazi regime took
this act as a pretext for the November pogroms they staged throughout
Germany. On November 9, 1938, the new synagogue in the Calenberger
Neustadt in Hanover was burned down. In September 1941, the NSDAP
Gauleiter Süd-Hannover-Braunschweig initiated the “Lauterbacher
Campaign” to ghettoize the remaining Jewish families in 15 so-called
Jewish houses.
Even before the Wannsee Conference, on December
15, 1941, the first 1001 Jews were deported from Hanover to Riga. By
1945, at least 2,400 people had to leave the city in eight transports,
few of whom survived. The deportation of the Jews and the “Aryanization”
of art and cultural assets were organized by the city planning officer
Karl Elkart. Of the approximately 4,800 Jews who lived in Hanover in
1938, there were not a hundred left when US Army troops entered the city
on April 10, 1945. Today, a memorial on Opernplatz and more than 400
stumbling blocks (2018), laid in the sidewalk in front of the last
freely chosen homes of Nazi victims, commemorate the persecution of the
Jews in Hanover. A memorial was set up in Ahlem in 1987 on the site of
the former Israelite Horticultural School.
See also: History of
the Jews in Hanover
In addition to a forced camp for Sinti and Roma
and so-called education camps, there were several satellite camps of the
Neuengamme concentration camp in Hanover with several thousand inmates
who lived under inhumane conditions. During the war, around 60,000
forced laborers worked in Hanover, most of whom were deported from the
USSR, Poland, France, the Netherlands and Belgium and interned in around
500 camps. They were mainly used in the armaments industry. Four days
before the liberation of Hanover, 154 of them were shot in the Seelhorst
city cemetery. Shortly after the end of the war, they were transported
along with 230 other corpses in a funeral procession to the north bank
of the Maschsee and buried there in a memorial.
During the Second
World War, numerous divisions and military administrations were based in
Hanover. These included nine military courts, which also sentenced to
death soldiers who had disobeyed. The data of 51 soldiers were
determined who were executed because of "desertion" (desertion),
"decomposition of the armed forces" and "war treason" in Hanover or
elsewhere from Hanover. There was also isolated resistance in Hanover,
ranging from arms sabotage to "deviant youth behavior" to preparations
for a coup on the part of the communist, social democratic and bourgeois
side. After the assassination on July 20, 1944, around ninety people
were arrested in the Hanover-South Lower Saxony area, including the
later SPD chairman Kurt Schumacher.
As a major transport hub and
location of wartime operations, Hanover was the target of over a hundred
Allied air raids from 1940 onwards. 48 percent of the city was destroyed
- rank seven among the major cities in Germany - 50 percent of the
residential buildings and 40 percent of the industrial jobs were
destroyed and 6782 people died. The Aegidienkirche was not rebuilt; its
ruins are a memorial to the victims of war and tyranny. On April 10,
1945, the 9th US Army occupied Hanover, the war in Europe ended on May 8
with the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht.
In 1946, the military government of the British occupation zone
introduced the local constitution based on the British model. The
council, which was elected by the people, elected the honorary mayor
from among its members as chairman and representative of the city.
Herbert Schmalstieg was mayor for many years from 1972 to 2006. From
1946 to 1996 there was a senior city manager, also elected by the
council, who was the full-time head of the city administration.
After the war, the city was rebuilt in a planned and rigorous manner
under the direction of the city planning officer Rudolf Hillebrecht:
After the severe war damage, the former, rather "small-scale"
emphasizing city structure and the road network were completely
reorganized and the postulated requirements of a "car-friendly city "
adjusted. In particular, the city center in the central area of
Ägidientorplatz and Georgstraße was bypassed with multi-lane streets
(Lavesallee, Leibnizufer, Hamburger Allee, Berliner Allee) and linked by
roundabouts. The long-distance traffic that used to flow through the
center on the former Reichsstrassen Nr. 3 and Nr. 6 was routed around
the center via expressways.
A path was cut through the middle of
the Eilenriede city forest for the Messeschnellweg. The historic town
plan was only superficial, since the remaining coarse-meshed network of
streets only roughly traces the main lines of the historic streets.
Characteristic of the reconstruction of Hanover is the emergence of
urban spaces that deviate from the historical structure.
Through
this urban planning, which was considered exemplary at the time and is
still having an impact today, the city gained national fame. Later, the
urban planning concepts of the reconstruction period proved to be
outdated: In the architectural trend of postmodernism, those streets and
squares that had shaped the 19th century were given model character
again, and not the post-war urban planning, which uncritically
car-oriented planning concepts from the USA had taken over. The loss of
historic buildings due to the air raids and the planning of the post-war
period (see also: List of demolished buildings in Hanover) gave rise to
the desire to reconstruct formerly formative buildings: the facades of
the Leibnizhaus destroyed in the war by 1983 and of Herrenhausen Palace
in the Large garden rebuilt by 2013.
In 1951 the first federal
garden show took place in the city park of Hanover.
In 1965 the
city council decided to build a subway. Decades of construction work on
the tunnel network followed, which was essentially completed in 1993
with the opening of the C-North route in the northern part of the city.
Tunnels were built in the inner city area and connected to the existing
tram lines, creating the Hanover Stadtbahn. After the end of the
construction work, pedestrian zones were set up in the city center
around the Kröpcke and in the Lister Meile, which significantly upgraded
these areas.
After parts of Wettbergen had already been
incorporated in 1967 and 1968, the major Lower Saxony regional reform
followed on March 1, 1974: the city of Misburg and the communities of
Ahlem, Anderten, Bemerode, Vinnhorst, Wettbergen, Wülferode were
incorporated, as were parts of Isernhagen Niedernhägener Bauerschaft (
today Isernhagen-Süd), Laatzen and Langenhagen. On January 1, 1981,
parts of the area with more than 100 inhabitants at the time were ceded
to the neighboring town of Laatzen. On November 1, 1981, the city was
divided into 13 districts based on the Lower Saxony Municipal Code.
After Hanover hosted the 13th German Fire Brigade Day in 1888, the
25th German Fire Brigade Day also took place there from June 7th to
15th, 1980. The 29th Fire Brigade Day was first postponed to June 2021
and then to June 2022 together with the Interschutz (both in Hanover)
due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Expo 2000 was the first world
exhibition in Germany to take place in Hanover. 155 nations took part in
the exhibition with the motto "People, Nature, Technology". With 18
million visitors, the initial expectations of visitor numbers were not
met.
Until the four district governments of Lower Saxony were
abolished on December 31, 2004, the city was the seat of the Hanover
district government.
In 2019 Hanover became a Hanseatic city
again. The re-admission to the league of cities took place at the
delegates' meeting in the Russian city of Pskov.
Hanover is located in the valley of the Leine at the transition from
the Lower Saxony mountains to the North German lowlands, the city center
at 52°22'28"N and 9°44'19"E sandy and moorland Geest landscapes of the
Burgdorf-Peiner and the Hanoverian Moor-Geest to the urban area.
The natural and geographical location of Hanover offered favorable
conditions for the development from a medieval village to a big city. In
the Middle Ages, an important north-south trade route through the Leine
Valley passed the site at a river ford. The railway followed this course
in the 19th century, and the construction of the Mittelland Canal as an
east-west connection in the 20th century put Hanover at the crossroads
of these important transport routes. The same applies to road traffic
through the intersection of the A 2 and A 7 federal motorways near
Hanover.
The nearest major cities are Hildesheim, Salzgitter,
Braunschweig, Wolfsburg, Bielefeld and Göttingen. The North Sea coast is
a little closer to Hanover than the Baltic Sea coast.
The following towns and communities in the Hanover region border on the city of Hanover: Langenhagen, Isernhagen, Lehrte, Sehnde, Laatzen, Hemmingen, Ronnenberg, Gehrden, Seelze and Garbsen. The environment is characterized by urban buildings along the traffic axes and rural buildings in other parts. Around 1,130,000 people lived in the Hanover metropolitan area in 2019.
Hanover consists of 51 districts. Two to seven of these districts are
combined to form a city district, so that the following 13 city
districts exist: Mitte, Vahrenwald-List, Bothfeld-Vahrenheide,
Buchholz-Kleefeld, Misburg-Anderten, Kirchrode-Bemerode-Wülferode,
Südstadt-Bult, Döhren-Wülfel , Ricklingen, Linden-Limmer,
Ahlem-Badenstedt-Davenstedt, Herrenhausen-Stöcken and North.
Over
eleven percent of the approximately 200 square kilometer urban area are
public green spaces, which is why Hanover is also known as a city in the
countryside. The city forest of Eilenriede, which is close to the city
centre, alone has a size of 650 hectares.
South of the city center is the Maschsee, an approximately 78-hectare
artificial lake with no natural inflow or outflow.
Coming from
the south, the Leine flows north-west through Hanover in the direction
of Aller. At the height of the Maschsee, Leine water is channeled to the
Ihme via the Schnellen Graben. The weir there serves not only to
regulate the water level but also to generate electricity. The Ihme is a
small stream that comes from the Calenberger Land. The supply of Leine
water turns it into a river, which reunites with the Leine after a few
kilometers. From here the line is navigable. In Limmer, the Fösse flows
into the Leine.
Hanover is on average 55 m above sea level. NN. The highest natural elevations in the city area are the Kronsberg on the south-eastern edge, whose highest point at 118.2 meters is an artificially raised viewing hill by a few metres, and the 89.0 meter high Lindener Berg. The highest artificial elevation is the Nordberg at 122 meters on the north-east edge on the site of the Lahe landfill. The lowest point is in the Klosterforst Marienwerder conservation area and is 44 m above sea level. NN.
Hanover is located in a region with a maritime climate (type Cfb). The mean annual temperature is around 10.6 °C. The long-term mean air temperature in Hanover was 8.7 °C and 661 millimeters of precipitation fell. An average of 22 summer days (climatological term for days when the maximum temperature exceeds 25 °C) can be expected between May and August.
The Flora-Fauna-Habitat (FFH) areas Altwarmbüchener Moor, Mergelgrube near Hanover, Leineaue between Ruthe and Hanover, Bockmerholz-Gaim and Aller (with Barnbruch), lower Leine, lower Oker are partly in the city area. Partially included are the nature reserves Bockmerholz, Mergelhalde and Gaim as well as the landscape protection areas Wietzeaue, Obere Wietze, Laher Wiesen, Kugelfangtrift glider airfield, Altwarmbüchener See, Altwarmbüchener Moor-Ahltener Wald, Mardalwiese, Breite Wiese-Nasse Wiese , Alte Bult, Kronsberg, Obere Leine, Hirtenbach/Wettberger Holz, Benther Berg Vorland/Fössetal, Mittlere Leine and Mecklenheide/Vinnhorst.
Until the end of the early modern period, Hanover's population grew
only slowly. During the late Middle Ages, about 5,000 people lived in
the city in 1435, by 1766 the number had more than doubled to 11,874.
With the start of the Industrial Revolution at the end of the 18th
century, population growth accelerated. In 1811, 16,816 people lived in
the city. The incorporation of surrounding places (suburb of Hanover)
with around 20,000 people in 1859 led to an increase to 60,120 people in
1861.
With the high level of industrialization in Germany,
Hanover became a big city in 1875. In 1901 there were 250,000
inhabitants. Through incorporations in 1907 and 1909, the population
rose to over 300,000 in 1910. On January 1, 1920, the town of Linden
with 73,379 inhabitants (1919) was incorporated. The population rose to
over 400,000 by the end of 1920.
During the course of the Second
World War, the city lost more than half of its residents: in addition to
the deportation of Jews, the population fell from 471,000 in May 1939 to
217,000 people in April 1945 as a result of flight and evacuation such
as the Kinderlandverschickung. In 1952, as many people lived in the City
like before the war, in 1954 there were half a million. In 1962, the
population reached its all-time high of 574,754. On March 1, 1974, the
incorporation of the town of Misburg with 21,721 inhabitants (1972) and
other surrounding towns brought an increase in population of 64,711
people. Hanover has been one of the 15 largest German cities every year
since 1960 at the latest. On June 30, 2019, the official number of
inhabitants was 536,055, according to the population register
545,107. At the turn of the year 2019/2020, the population was
543,319 (main residence) according to the population register.
With the Sportpark Hannover in the Calenberger Neustadt district, Hannover has the largest contiguous sports area of any major city in Germany. The Erika Fisch stadium, the sports performance center (SLZ), the stadium pool and the park stage are located in the approx. 45 hectare area. Hanover has long defined itself as a sports city, since a wide range of sports was/is offered here at a high level. The German Sports Federation was founded in Hanover in 1950.
The most successful soccer club in Hanover is the Hannoversche
Sportverein von 1896 e. V., “Hannover 96” or the Reds for short, which
is based in the Heinz-von-Heiden-Arena. The amateurs playing in the
Regionalliga Nord are at home in the Eilenriede Stadium. Other clubs are
the former second division clubs SV Arminia Hannover and OSV Hannover.
The club SV Arminia Hannover, called the Blues, plays in the Lower
Saxony state league and is based in the Rudolf Kalweit Stadium. From
1990 to 1997, TSV Fortuna Sachsenross Hannover was a member of the
women's Bundesliga.
The Hanover Scorpions played in the German
Ice Hockey League from 1996 to 2013. In 2013 they sold their DEL license
to the Schwenninger Wild Wings. From 2001, the venue of the ice hockey
club was the ZAG Arena (then TUI Arena). The Scorpions have been playing
in the Oberliga Nord since 2013 and since then have played their home
games at the Langenhagen ice rink. Since 2017 the Hus de Groot Eisarena
in Mellendorf (Wedemark) has been the home arena of the club. Also
active in the Oberliga are the Hanover Indians, whose domicile is the
Eisstadion am Pferdeturm in Kleefeld.
The German Sports Club
Hannover founded in 1878, Hannover 78 for short, was founded in 1878 as
the first German lawn sports club; Rugby was the founding sport.
Hannover 78, the teams from VfR Döhren and SC Germania List are
currently playing in the 1st Bundesliga. Hannover 78 II, TSV Victoria
Linden and DRC Hannover play in the 2nd Bundesliga. The most successful
rugby club in Germany is TSV Victoria Linden, having won 20 German
championship titles. Since 1909, 62 of the 83 German championships held
to date have been brought to Hanover by Hanoverian clubs. In the period
from 1909 to 2005, with the exception of 1913, a Hanoverian club played
in every championship final played.
In handball, TSV
Hannover-Anderten was in the 2nd Handball Bundesliga from 2007 to 2010
and since the summer of 2011 in the 3rd Handball Bundesliga North. TSV
Hannover-Burgdorf (nicknamed the Recken) has been playing in the
Handball Bundesliga since 2009. For women, HSG Hannover-Badenstedt plays
in the second handball Bundesliga. Other former Bundesliga clubs are in
the men's HSG Hanover and Police Sports Club Hanover; for women SC
Germania List and SG Misburg.
Hannover 78 plays in the indoor
hockey league (men) and in the 2nd field hockey league (men). The DHC
Hannover also plays in the indoor hockey Bundesliga (men) as well as in
the 2nd field hockey Bundesliga (men) and the 2nd indoor hockey
Bundesliga (women).
On January 25, 1862, the first German fencing
club was founded in Hanover, which still exists today. In addition to
the Hanover Fencing Club from 1862, there are three other clubs that
offer fencing.
The Waspo 98 Hannover have been playing in the
water polo league since 1983 and in 2012/2013 they were the first
Hanoverian club to make it into the group stage of a Champions League
competition. The club will host the LEN Champions League Final Six in
2019 and 2021.
The 1st water ski club in Hanover is on the leash.
Other water sports clubs are the Hanover Paddle Club in Döhren, the
Hanoverian Canoe Club from 1921 on the Maschsee, the Hanover Canoe Sport
Club, the Stöcken Paddle Club and the Lower Saxony Paddle Club.
The Turn-Klubb zu Hannover is represented in several disciplines: The
fistball team plays in the first federal league. The field of fencing
has won various national and international titles. The club is a
three-time German champion in artistic gymnastics. The women's table
tennis team became German team champions in 1960 and German cup winners
in 1961.
The UBC Tigers played in the second highest basketball
league, the ProA, until they disbanded in 2014. The TK Hannover Luchse
are a women's basketball team from Hanover, who compete in the highest
German women's basketball pool, the 1st women's basketball league.
The Hannover Grizzlies have been playing American football since the
2016 season with the men's team in the Oberliga Nord and the women's
team in the 2nd women's Bundesliga.
The table tennis club TTC
Helga Hannover, founded in 1947, managed to get promoted to the 1st
Bundesliga after four runners-up in the 1991/92 season, where it played
for the next three years and again in 1997/98. In 2008, the women's
table tennis division of Hannover 96 was promoted to the 1st Bundesliga.
The women's and men's lacrosse teams of the DHC Hannover play in the
Bundesliga North. The women took part in the German Lacrosse
Championships for the first time in 2008 and took third place.
The association for physical exercise from 1848 e. V. (VfL) Hannover is
the oldest sports club in Hannover and has a wheelchair dance section
whose couples are successful on a national and international level.
In chess, two Hanoverian clubs play in the Oberliga Nord Staffel
West: Schachfreunde Hannover and HSK Lister Turm.
The All Sports
Team Hannover is a top team in dragon boat sports, which has won over a
hundred medals at national and international championships since it was
founded in 2000, including ten German championship titles in 2012 alone.
It was voted "Team of the Year 2013" in Lower Saxony.
The 1. DSC
Hannover has been Germany's first snooker club since 1985. Between 2014
and 2019, the club played snooker in the 1st Bundesliga and became
German champions in 2015. Since 2019, 1. DSC Hannover has been playing
Snooker North in the 2nd Bundesliga. With the billiard department of
Hannover 96 and the PBV Anderten, two clubs played in the first pool
billiard league.
The two sections of the German Alpine Club in
Hanover are the Hanover Section, founded in 1885 with three club-owned
huts, and the AlpinClub Hanover, which emerged from this in 1997 and has
no huts of its own and specializes in bouldering and climbing.
With more than 15,000 international participants in various
disciplines, the Hanover Marathon is one of the largest road running
events in Germany. Other major events include the Wasserstadt triathlon,
the Hanover city relay in the Erika-Fisch-Stadion, the night run and the
traditional New Year's Eve run.
Several sporting events take
place on the Maschsee every year, including the international dragon
boat festival in Hanover. Motorboat races were also held on the lake
from 1952 to 1989, including world and European championships.
Other sporting events include the Beach Volleyball Cup on Steintorplatz,
the international youth tennis tournament Radio 21 Open and various
wrestling festivals. The election for the disabled athlete of the year
takes place every year in February in the GOP Varieté-Theater.
In
cycling there has been the Night of Hanover (with interruptions) since
1975, a nocturnal professional race with prominent cast.
Hanover
has a long equestrian tradition, and the Hanoverian horse breed is well
known. Well-known events include the national championship of leisure
horses in the equestrian stadium and the night of the horses (as part of
the "Horse & Hunting" fair) on the exhibition grounds.
The
fireworks of gymnastics is considered Europe's most successful
gymnastics show and has been organized by the Hannoversche Turn- und
Sportförderungsgesellschaft mbH (a subsidiary of the Lower Saxony
Gymnastics Association) since 1989. Today, the gymnastics show is a
guest in many German cities, traditionally in Hanover on New Year's Eve
and in the first week of January.
Hanover was one of the venues
for the 1974 World Cup, the 2006 World Cup, the 1988 European Football
Championship, the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2001 Ice Hockey
World Cup. From 2000 to 2007, the international German Cup ice hockey
tournament took place here . In tennis, Hannover was the venue for the
ATP World Championship (1996-1999) and the WTA Hannover (1997-2000). In
cycling there was the Grand Prix of Hanover on the Hanover-Wülfel cycle
track. In November 2010, Hanover hosted the seventh World Championships
in Wheelchair Dance with 150 participants. In 2016, the Special Olympics
National Games were held in this city.
In 2021, the city applied to host a four-day program for an international delegation to the Special Olympics World Summer Games 2023 in Berlin. In 2022 she was selected to host Special Olympics Italy. This made it part of the largest municipal inclusion project in the history of the Federal Republic with more than 200 host towns.
According to the 2011 census, 34.7% of the residents were Protestant,
13.7% Roman Catholic and 51.6% were non-denominational, belonged to
another religious community or made no statement. According to a
calculation from the census figures for people with a migration
background, the proportion of Muslims in Hanover in 2011 was 8.8%
(around 44,400 people). At the end of 2021, 26.4% of Hanover's
population was Protestant and 11.5% Catholic. The majority, 62.1%,
belonged to neither of the two major Christian denominations. At the end
of 2019, 28.5% of Hanover’s population was Protestant and 12.4%
Catholic. The majority, 59.1%, belonged to neither of the two major
Christian denominations. In 2021 there were 6,401 people leaving the
church (1% of the total population), of which 4,366 are from the
Evangelical Church and 2,034 from the Catholic Church. In 2020 there
were 5,271 people leaving the church (1% of the total population).
History
After Christianization, the city of Hanover belonged to
the diocese of Minden and to the archdeaconate of Pattensen.
The
Lutheran Reformation was introduced in Hanover's old town in 1533/34 and
in the new town in 1544. After that, Hanover was a predominantly
Lutheran city for many centuries. Catholics and Reformed church members
could not acquire citizenship in Hanover's old town until 1800, which is
why they built their churches in the new town.
In the district of
Mühlenberg there is an ecumenical church center that unites the district
parishes of the Evangelical Lutheran and the Roman Catholic district
parishes under one roof.
The city's churches regularly organize
the Night of Churches with church concerts and readings.
The Evangelical-Lutheran population of Hanover belongs to the
Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Hanover, which is based in Hanover, as is
the seat of the regional church office. After the Second World War,
Hanover became the seat of the Church Office of the Evangelical Church
in Germany (EKD) and the Church Office of the United Evangelical
Lutheran Church in Germany (VELKD). Hanover is the seat of numerous
organizations in the Hanoverian state church and the EKD. All regional
evangelical parishes in Hanover belong to the Stadtkirchenverband
Hannover within the parish of the same name of the Evangelical-Lutheran
regional church. In the years 1949, 1967, 1983 and 2005 the Evangelical
Church Congress took place in Hanover.
The Marienwerder Monastery
is located in the district of Marienwerder.
In 1697 a French-Reformed church and in 1702 a German-Reformed church came into being, which united in 1819. Today this congregation belongs to the Evangelical-Reformed Church - Synod of Evangelical-Reformed Churches in Bavaria and Northwest Germany. The Reformed Union is a federation (association) of Reformed churches, congregations, associations and individuals. It is the umbrella organization for around two million Reformed church members in the Federal Republic of Germany and is based in Hanover. Since January 1, 2014, the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WGRK) has had its headquarters in Hanover.
The Roman Catholic congregation, which was established in 1665,
initially belonged to the Apostolic Vicariate of the North, from 1824 to
the diocese of Hildesheim and with this since 1995 to the newly founded
ecclesiastical province of Hamburg.
In the course of population
growth, industrialization and the influx of displaced persons, new
communities were detached from the original community, which encompassed
the entire Hanover region. Most recently there were 43 Catholic parishes
in the region. Their number will be reduced by more than half in the
near future as a result of mergers.
The ecclesiastical region of
Hanover was combined on May 1, 2007 to form the regional deanery of
Hanover. It roughly coincides with the area of the political region of
Hanover and has around 157,000 Catholics. The main Catholic church in
Hanover and the seat of the regional dean is the Propsteikirche Basilica
St. Clemens.
The Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church has its bishopric and
church leadership in Hanover and is represented by two parishes in the
southern part of the city. Other free churches are the Apostolic
Community, the Koinonia Calvary Chapel Hanover, the Christian Center
Hanover, Evangelical Free Church congregations (Baptist and Brethren
congregations), the Free Evangelical Congregation, the United Methodist
Church, the Free Church of the Seventh-day Adventists, the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Mennonites (Anabaptists),
the New Apostolic Church, the Christian Community, Jehovah's Witnesses
and Christian Science.
In September 2011, the old Catholic Church
of St. Maria Angelica in Kirchrode was consecrated. In addition to the
Russian Orthodox Church and a Serbian Orthodox Church, a Greek Orthodox
Church is represented.
There are several mosques and other places of worship for Muslims
living in Hanover. The Stöcken city cemetery has a burial ground set up
for Muslims. The Sami Mosque of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat has been the
first new mosque to be built in Hanover in the Schwarze Heide settlement
area of the Stöcken district since 2008.
After the Second World
War and the Shoah, new Jewish life slowly arose in the city as a result
of influx. Today there are four Jewish communities with around 6000
members and three Jewish cemeteries. In 1963 the new synagogue was built
on Haeckelstraße. The Liberal Jewish Community has had a synagogue in
the former Gustav Adolf Church in Leinhausen since 2009. In 2011 there
was a street name for the Jewish journalist Käthe Vordtriede in the
district of Wettbergen. This only became known posthumously through her
time-critical letters about the Third Reich.
In 1993, the
Vietnamese Buddhists in Germany created the largest building of its kind
in Europe with the Viên Giác pagoda on Karlsruher Strasse in Mittelfeld.
In 2007, the Thai community inaugurated their Buddhist temple Wat
Dhammavihara Hanover in the Ahlemer tower. There are also centers of the
Tibetan schools of thought, Theravada and Zen Buddhism. In 2009, Hindu
believers inaugurated a temple in an industrial area in the Badenstedt
district. The believers are predominantly Tamils from Sri Lanka.
In order to promote the exchange between the religions, there is the
event and meeting place House of Religions.
Humanists are united in the Lower Saxony Humanistic Association, a community of ideologies and a corporation under public law. The Humanistic Center in Hanover is the seat of the state association. Among other things, the association is responsible for three day-care centers in Hanover. In addition, the humanists organize a youth group, carry out youth trips as well as cultural and educational events and offer name celebrations, youth celebrations, secular wedding celebrations and funeral services. The state association is a member of the Humanistic Association of Germany.
In 2017, the city generated a gross domestic product at market prices
totaling EUR 34,100.9 million, which corresponds to EUR 80,228 per
employed person. In 2012, the gross value added at production costs was
EUR 30,743.8 million, which corresponds to EUR 72,330 per person
employed. The city's total debt at the end of 2021 was around 4.2
billion euros (7,957 euros per capita).
Around 300,000 employees
subject to social security contributions worked in the city in 2014.
Around 189,000 of them had their primary residence in Hanover. While
54,285 commuters leave the city, 164,892 commuters enter the city every
day. This gives a commuter balance of about 111,000.
Per capita
purchasing power in Hanover was EUR 21,948 in 2014. In the same period,
retail sales per capita were EUR 6,960, while retail purchasing power
per capita was EUR 5,931.00, which speaks for positive shopping tourism
in the city. In 2015, per capita purchasing power rose to EUR 22,071,
with retail purchasing power of EUR 5,932 per capita and retail sales of
EUR 6,714 per capita.
In 2015, the total retail turnover was
3,793.4 million euros, which means 7,236 euros per capita, with a retail
purchasing power of 6,745 euros per inhabitant.
At the beginning
of 2014, the city was home to a total of 34,198 companies (members of
the Hanover Chamber of Industry and Commerce) not including the 3,633
dependent business premises, of which 9,342 were entered in the
commercial register and 24,856 were small businesses. This means that
the city of Hanover is home to more than half of all companies in the
Hanover region that are registered in the commercial register (total:
17,485) and half of all companies in the Hanover region that are not
registered there (total: 49,081). In 2015 there were also 5,110
handicraft businesses with 30,759 employees and a turnover of 2.05
billion euros in the city.
The largest employers in Hanover
include:
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, 15,000 employees
Klinikum
Region Hannover (KRH), 8,500 employees
Continental, 7,800 employees
Hannover Medical School (MHH), 7,600 employees
Nord/LB with Deutsche
Hypothekenbank, 4,000 employees
Sparkasse Hannover including
subsidiaries, 2,900 employees
VHV Versicherungen, 2,600 employees at
the Hanover location
Talanx, 2,500 employees
WABCO, 2,500
employees
In the Hanover region, Deutsche Bahn employs around
5,500 people and Deutsche Post DHL around 4,400.
Various industrial companies have their headquarters in Hanover,
including the automotive supplier and DAX group Continental AG,
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, the vehicle system manufacturer WABCO,
the construction machinery manufacturer Komatsu Hanomag, the Johnson
Controls factory for starter batteries (formerly VARTA), the tourism
group TUI and the Abrasive manufacturer VSM United Emery and Machine
Factories. The food industry is represented by Bahlsen, Harry-Brot and
the breweries Gilde Brauerei and Herrenhäuser Brauerei. The cement
industry that emerged near Hanover at the end of the 19th century is the
focus of cement production in Lower Saxony. Its center is in the
district of Misburg-Süd and neighboring towns.
Other well-known
companies used to be based in Hanover, such as the Preussag mining
group, the vehicle manufacturer Hanomag, the chocolate manufacturer
Sprengel (taken over by Stollwerck in 1979 and closed in 2001), the
stationery manufacturers Pelikan and Geha, the Deurag-Nerag oil refinery
(closed in 1986) and the Deutsche record factory Gramophone (part of
Polygram from 1971), closed since 1990. The last headquarters of the
petroleum company and gas station operator Gasolin was in Hanover until
1971. In addition, there was PreussenElektra, founded in 1923, at times
the second largest energy supply company in Germany, which merged with
Bayernwerk to form E.ON in 2000. In the meantime, it has been
re-established as Preussenelektra GmbH and is responsible for the
dismantling of nuclear power plants. The company Appel Feinkost was
founded in 1879.
The Hanover service companies include a number of banks, financial
service providers and insurance companies such as the Norddeutsche
Landesbank (NORD/LB), Sparkasse Hannover, Hannoversche Volksbank,
ING-DiBa, Bankhaus Hallbaum, Swiss Life Select, VHV, commercial health
insurance company - KKH, LBS, Mecklenburgische Insurance Group, Hannover
Re, Hannoversche, HDI Versicherungen, Talanx and NBank. In addition,
there is the tourism group TUI with its subsidiaries TUI Germany,
1-2-Fly and Robinson. Enercity supplies Hanover and the surrounding area
with electricity, gas, water and district heating. Other energy service
companies are BEB, Gasunie Deutschland, E.ON Energie AG and ExxonMobil.
The New Economy is represented, for example, by the Internet tire dealer
Delticom. The Hanover Stock Exchange was founded in 1785.
The
Siemens company had several locations in Hanover. In 1988, Siemens moved
to Hildesheimer Strasse in Alt-Laatzen. Founded in 2003, Hannoverimpuls
is the joint economic development company of the city and region of
Hannover. It supports the founding, settlement and growth of companies
in Hanover as a business location.
Hanover is a retail center with a catchment area extending into the East Westphalia-Lippe region. The sales area in the city of Hanover is around 900,000 square meters, of which 253,000 square meters are in the city centre. The inner-city pedestrian zone includes several streets around the Kröpcke. In frequency counts, Georgstrasse ranked third in 2019 and Bahnhofstrasse eleventh in 2018 (for technical reasons, Bahnhofstrasse was not counted in 2019) among the most popular shopping streets in Germany. In 2019, Große Packhofstraße was ranked 16th and Karmarschstraße 18th. The shopping arcades in the city center are the Ernst-August-Galerie, which was opened in 2008 next to the main train station by Hamburg's ECE Projektmanagement, the Niki-de-Saint-Phalle-Promenade, the "Einkaufsbahnhof Hannover”, the Kaufland shopping center, the Kröpcke-Passage and the Luise Gallery with the Langensche Höfe. With around 300 kiosks (also known as drinking halls in Hanover), Hanover has one of the highest concentrations of kiosks in Germany, some of which are listed buildings. The major shopping streets outside of the city center include Lister Meile, Limmerstrasse and Engelbosteler Damm. Small to medium-sized shopping centers have emerged in many parts of the city, including the Klein-Buchholz shopping park.
In Hanover there are 117 accommodation establishments, each with more
than 10 beds, including 42 hotels, 46 bed and breakfast hotels, 6 inns,
8 guesthouses, 4 convalescent/holiday homes, 8 establishments in the
holiday home/holiday apartment category, 2 youth hostels and 1 mobile
home parking space more than 10 parking spaces (as of February 2023).
The establishments have a total of 16,646 beds. About half of the
establishments are certified, ranging from five-star superior luxury
hotels to one-star establishments. In 2022, the city recorded 2 million
overnight stays (2001: 1.2 million, 2006: 1.6 million, 2011: 2.1
million, 2019: 2.3 million). There is also a small mobile home parking
lot in Hanover not far from the Herrenhausen Gardens and the tradition
of the "fair moms". This tradition goes back to the decision of the
British occupying power to organize an export fair in front of the gates
of Hanover from 1947. Because of the difficult accommodation situation
in the largely bombed-out city, she had called on the population to
accommodate visitors to the fair. Today, more than 1,000 people make
their private living space (private rooms, holiday apartments and
houses) available in Hanover through various accommodation agencies,
most of them also outside of the trade fair periods. However, these
accommodations are not included in the official overnight stay
statistics. In addition, according to a basic study by dwif-Consulting,
Hanover has 41 million day visitors per year. With a gross turnover of
around 2 billion euros, tourism is one of the most important economic
factors for Hanover. As a guideline, over 37,000 people in Hanover earn
their living from tourism.
The city has a lot of open and green
space, which is why some reporters attribute its low "density stress"
and relaxed everyday life. In 2021, Hannover ranked first in Germany and
ninth in the world among the most relaxed cities in the world. The
booking portal Booking.com listed Hanover among the ten up-and-coming
travel destinations in 2018 because of the "many museums, parks and
cultural events". The renowned Location Award was given to Hanoverian
institutions five times, including twice to Herrenhausen Palace, which
reopened after reconstruction in 2013. In 2021, Hanoverian facilities
were voted first in all categories of the Location Award, making Hanover
the best event location in the German-speaking world. In the 25 most
popular photo motifs in Lower Saxony, Hannover 2021 took first place in
a Sightsmap ranking. The New Town Hall, the Marktkirche and the Maschsee
were photographed the most in Hanover.
The long-distance cycle
path Leine-Heide-Radweg, the cycle path Kulturroute, the circular cycle
and hiking trail Grüner Ring, the Niedersächsische Mühlenstraße, the
pilgrimage route Via Scandinavica and the European Route of Historic
Gardens, a cultural route of the Council of Europe are important tourist
routes that run directly through Hanover run.
Hanover is the seat of the Lower Saxony state government and the Lower Saxony state parliament. The headquarters of the THW regional association Bremen and Lower Saxony of the Federal Agency for Technical Relief, the Lower Saxony regional command of the Bundeswehr and the Lower Saxony State Criminal Police Office are also located here. Two federal authorities have their headquarters in Hanover, the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources and the Federal Plant Variety Office. In addition, the Federal Highway Authority has one of its four locations in the city. The Hanover Police Department is responsible for the city and region of Hanover. The Deutsche Bundesbank is represented in Hanover with its headquarters in Bremen, Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. The social insurance for agriculture, forestry and horticulture (SVLFG) has an office in Hanover.
With a hall area of 392,453 m², an open area of 58,000 m² and 24
halls, the Hanover exhibition center is the second largest exhibition
center in the world. The operator is Deutsche Messe AG, whose history
dates back to 1947. Around 60 trade fairs and specialist events are held
here every year, which are attended by over 1 million people every year.
The world's leading trade fairs include the Hanover Fair in spring as
well as Interschutz, Domotex, EuroBLECH, Agritechnica, LIGNA, EuroTier,
IAA Transportation, the EUHA Congress with industrial exhibition and the
EMO, which alternates with Milan. The leading trade fairs in Europe
include the eroFame, Pferd & Jagd, Labvolution, Tire Technology Expo,
the IdeenExpo and, alternating with Stuttgart and Cologne, the Didacta.
Germany's leading trade fairs are the Infa and the German young poultry
show. Other trade fairs include the ABF, the B.I.G., the CMM, the
TECHTIDE, the Digital Health Pro, the bfp Forum, the Micromobility EXPO,
the Real Estate Arena, the bpt Congress & Trade Fair for Veterinary
Medicine, the Genuss Fest, the Light Con, the Better Sleep trade fair,
Performance & Style Days, Steam & Smoke, Hund & Co. and Bio Nord. The
Cosmetica and DreamHack trade fairs take place in Hanover as well as in
various other cities. The annual congresses include the Robotics
Congress. In 2000, Hanover hosted the World Exhibition Expo 2000. With
around 18 million visitors, Expo 2000 is still the most visited event in
Germany. From 1957 to 1990 Hanover also hosted the ILA. CEBIT was held
from 1986 to 2018 and was the world's largest computer trade fair for
many years.
In the Hanover Congress Center (HCC), which opened in
1914, around 1,000 events with around 400,000 visitors are held every
year, including numerous congresses and trade fairs (including the Maker
Faire Hanover and the Hanover Gemstone Days). The Hannover Plant Days
have been held annually in the neighboring city park since 1999.
Numerous other trade fairs and congresses take place neither on the
exhibition grounds nor in the HCC. This also includes the traditional
art and antiques fair in the gallery building in the Herrenhausen
Gardens, which has had many organizers and names in recent decades.
The event management platform Cvent has ranked Hanover among the top
25 meeting cities in Europe since 2015.
The state broadcasting center of the NDR is located at the Maschsee,
where, among other things, the regional magazines Hallo Niedersachsen
and Niedersachsen 18.00, the travel magazines Nordtour and Nordseereport
and since 2011 the 9:45 p.m. edition of NDR Info (previously: NDR
Aktuell) are produced. Since 2021, the NDR has been producing the
documentary series Seelion & Co. in the Hanover Zoo. From 2006 to 2020,
the NDR in Hanover also recorded a talk show, first in the Royal Riding
Hall, then from 2008 in the NDR studio on the exhibition grounds. The
talk show has had different names over time: "Herman and Tietjen"
(2006-2007), Talk with Tietjen (2007), The Tietjen and Dibaba
(2008-2009), Tietjen and Hirschhausen (2009-2014), "Bettina and Bommes"
(2015-2017), "Tietjen and Bommes" (2017-2019) and "NDR Talk Show"
(2019-2020). From 1965 to 1974 the music show Musik aus Studio B was
broadcast from the Landesfunkhaus. Also on the Maschsee is the "Lower
Saxony state studio" of the ZDF. The TVN Group produces, among other
things, the NDR game show BINGO! in two television studios. Sat.1
Norddeutschland GmbH has its headquarters in the Anzeiger high-rise and
the RTL Nord Studio Hannover is located in the adjoining media center.
TV+ television production produces television programs for NDR, AZ Media
for RTL and n-tv. The ARD.ZDF media academy operates one of the two
German training centers in Hanover. The television shopping station
Channel 21 (formerly RTL Shop) is also based here. There is also the
non-commercial citizens' television h-eins. The X-City media produce the
passenger television in several German cities. Hanover is and has also
regularly hosted major television entertainment shows, for example, Eine
wird winn was a guest at least seventeen times, Wetten, dass..? was
eight times, The Dome four times, Melodies for Millions and Welcome to
Carmen Nebel three times each, Musik ist Trumpf and the Starparade twice
each and once each of the Musikantenstadl and Show & Co. with Carlo. In
Hanover, contributions for Do you understand fun? shot as well as in
2000 also a consequence of the ZDF series The Literary Quartet. In
addition, the shows Der goldene Schuß, Zum Blauen Bock, 1:0 für Sie,
Nase vorn, The current sports studio and the ARD request concert also
made guest appearances in Hanover. Other television programs that are or
were regular guests in Hanover include Joke and Dallerei, Quiz Taxi,
Shopping Queen and The Perfect Dinner. The talk show Tacheles - Talk am
rote Tisch was recorded from 1999 to 2006 and from 2009 to 2014 in the
Marktkirche. In 2010, the multi-part NDR variety show The Thomas & Helga
Show was recorded at the Werkhof.
The PAL color television system
introduced in August 1967 in West Germany and West Berlin was developed
at Telefunken in Hanover under the leadership of Walter Bruch and
presented there in early 1963.
Film funding is operated by
Nordmedia Niedersachsen/Bremen. More than 200 cinema and television
films have already been shot in Hanover (as of 2021). Tatort is one of
the best-known productions, including some scenes from the first episode
Taxi nach Leipzig; from 1974 to 1977 Heinz Brammer (Knut Hinz), from
2002 to 2017 Charlotte Lindholm in and around Hanover. The Tatort team
Falke and Grosz also determined 2016, 2022 and 2023 in Hanover. Two
films in the crime series Stahlnetz were shot in Hanover in 1962 and
1999, as was the first season of the children's series Hallo Spencer in
1979 and the NDR comedy series Big Dating in 2020. In addition, all 626
cartoon episodes of the Breakfast at Stefanie's series were produced in
Hanover. From 2015 to 2022, the animated series Freese 1 an alle, a
spin-off of the radio comedy series Wir sind die Freeses, was produced
in Hanover. Television films shot in Hanover include The Man Who Can Do
Anything (2012), My Old Friend Fritz (2007), Family Commitments (2015)
and Willi and the Windzors (1996), the cinema films 23 - Nothing is as
it seems (1998), Yella (2007), Playground: Love (2013) and The Surprise
(2014). Parts of the four-parter The Great Bellheim (1992) and the
three-parter Every Year Again - The Semmeling Family (1976) were filmed
in Hanover. The silent film The Face of a City, shot in Hanover in 1932,
was also shown on liners (the film was subtitled in English and
Spanish). The company Ambient Entertainment produces animated films for
the cinema in Hanover, for example Back to Gaya (2004), Urmel aus dem
Eis (2006) and Animal Conference.
Large Hanoverian radio stations
are NDR 1 Niedersachsen, Hit-Radio Antenne and Radio ffn. Oliver
Kalkofe, Oliver Welke and Dietmar Wischmeyer, among others, started
their careers with the Frühstyxradio at the latter. There is also the
private local radio station Radio Hannover and the non-commercial local
radio station Radio Flora, which, however, has only been broadcasting as
Internet radio since April 2009.
The daily newspapers Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung and Neue Presse, which appear in Hanover, are published by the publishing company Madsack. There is also the local edition of the Bild newspaper. The German Press Agency (dpa) operates a state service office in Hanover. The Heise-Verlag, the Vincentz-Verlag and the Schluetersche Verlagsgesellschaft sell specialist journals and telephone directories. The T3N magazine of the Yeebase publishing house is also based in Hanover. Rudolf Augstein founded the magazine Der Spiegel in Hanover in 1947, and the following year Henri Nannen founded the magazine Stern in Hanover.
The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University of Hanover in the northern
part of the city goes back to the Higher Trade School opened in 1831,
from which the Royal Technical University developed, which was raised to
the Technical University in 1899. After the Second World War, the
University of Horticulture and Regional Culture and, in 1968, the
University of Education in Hanover were incorporated.
The
Hannover Medical School (MHH) was founded in 1965. The organizational
structure of the MHH differs from that of a classic university and is
based on the department structure of American universities. The
individual departments of the MHH were assigned to centers, which in
turn are grouped into four sections (pre-clinical subjects, major
clinical subjects, small clinical subjects, clinical-theoretical
subjects). The MHH works together with the neuroscientific research
institute International Neuroscience Institute founded by Professor
Madjid Samii.
The University of Veterinary Medicine in Hanover
was opened in 1778 as the Royal Roß-Arzney School and was elevated to
the status of a university in 1887. It is the oldest university in
Hanover and is now involved in the Hanover Science Initiative.
The Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media goes back to the State
Music School and the private Hanover Drama School, both of which were
given the status of an artistic-scientific university in 1978. The
Institute for Journalism and Communication Research and the European
Center for Jewish Music in the Villa Seligmann also belong to the
university. Famous graduates are Ulrike Folkerts and Katja Riemann.
Hannover University of Applied Sciences (until 2010 Hannover
University of Applied Sciences) emerged from various institutions,
including the Werkkunstschule, the Ingenieurakademie and the Staatliche
Baugewerkschule Nienburg. In 1978, the department of information and
communication was added. The university is divided into five faculties:
Faculty I (electrical engineering and information technology), Faculty
II (mechanical engineering and bioprocess engineering), Faculty III
(media, information and design), Faculty IV (business and computer
science) and Faculty V (diaconia, health and social). The latter emerged
from the Evangelical University of Applied Sciences, which was
incorporated into what was then the University of Applied Sciences in
2007.
Other universities are the University of Applied Sciences
for Economics, the Municipal University for Administration in Lower
Saxony, the FOM - University of Economics and Management, the GISMA
Business School, the Leibniz University of Applied Sciences at the Expo
Plaza, the University of Applied Sciences for medium-sized companies,
the IU International University, the Iba – International Vocational
Academy, the Diploma University and the Vocational Academy for Banking.
Other business-related educational institutions include the Leibniz
Academy or the Europa Fachakademie Dr. bogeyman.
The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library is the state library of Lower
Saxony and at the same time a scientific library with a large exhibition
and cultural program. It is the former Royal Library with a significant
collection of old prints and manuscripts dating back to 800 AD. The
estate of Leibniz is located here. His letters, which have been part of
UNESCO's Memory of the World Register since 2007, are kept here, as are
the Golden Letter (a UNESCO Registered World Register since 2015) and
parts of the Monseer Fragments.
The Hanover City Library was
first mentioned in a document in 1440. In addition to the central
library on Hildesheimer Straße, it includes 17 district libraries and
the mobile library.
The Technical Information Library (TIB) is
the German central specialist library for technology and natural
sciences. With its specialist libraries, it also fulfills the role of
the university library for the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität
Hannover.
Other important libraries are located at the Medical
University, the University of Veterinary Medicine, the University of
Hanover and the State Church Office in Hanover.
Hanover is the
seat of several archives, including the Lower Saxony State Archives, the
City Archives of Hanover, the State Church Archives of the Evangelical
Lutheran State Church of Hanover, the University Archives of Hanover,
the Leibniz Archives in the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library, the
library and the archives of the Federal Institute for geosciences and
raw materials and the press archive of the publishing group Madsack.
The Geozentrum Hannover consists of the Federal Institute for
Geosciences and Natural Resources, the State Office for Mining, Energy
and Geology and the Leibniz Institute for Applied Geophysics. The Max
Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute),
Hanover branch, is located on the campus of the Gottfried Wilhelm
Leibniz University in Hanover. The Lower Saxony Criminological Research
Institute is headed by the former Lower Saxony Minister of Justice
Christian Pfeiffer. The Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and
Experimental Medicine is located near the Medical University. The Laser
Zentrum Hannover carries out research, development and consulting in the
field of laser technology.
The State Education Center for the
Blind in Hanover is a state social institution for the visually impaired
and blind. Institutions for general education are the adult education
center in Hanover and the educational association for social learning
and communication.
In September 2012, the pharmaceutical company
Boehringer Ingelheim opened the European research center for animal
vaccines, Boehringer Ingelheim Veterinary Research Center.
In addition to the clinic of the Hanover Medical School (MHH) and the clinic for dermatology, allergology and venereology of the Hanover Medical School (formerly the Linden skin clinic), there are other hospitals in Hanover that are run by different organizations. The Nordstadt Clinic and the Siloah Clinic belong to the Hannover Region Clinical Network. Church sponsors include the Friederikenstift with the accident clinic, the Henriettenstift, the Annastift and the Vinzenz Hospital. In 2015, the three first-named formed the Diakovere. The German Red Cross runs the Clementinenhaus hospital. There is also the children's hospital on the Bult and some private clinics, such as the International Neuroscience Institute, which belongs to Asklepios.
Hanover is located at the transition from the North German lowlands
to the Lower Saxon highlands, not far from the city the Leinetal emerges
from the low mountain range. This is why important north-south traffic
axes intersect with those of the east-west direction. The old Hellweg
trade route in front of the Santforde ran south of the town. Statistical
studies show that Hanover is exceptionally easy to reach. Furthermore,
Hanover was the first city in Lower Saxony to introduce environmental
zones on January 1, 2008 in order to reduce the fine dust and nitrogen
dioxide content in the air. Since then, the limit value for the annual
mean values, which has been in place since 2005 and is 40 µg/m³, has
always been complied with.
In addition to Dresden, Hanover is the
only location for traffic accident research that works independently of
insurers and the police. This unit investigates traffic accidents in the
entire Hanover region and has existed since the 1970s. It is affiliated
with the Trauma Surgery Department of the Hannover Medical School.
In 2011, local public transport (ÖPNV) accounted for 19% of the choice of mode of transport among the residents of the city of Hanover (data from 2011; motorized private transport (MIV) 38%, pedestrians 25%, cyclists 19%). Compared to other major German cities for which current data were available, Hanover together with Bremen had the highest proportion of bicycle traffic, the lowest value for private motorized transport after Munich and the highest proportion of public transport in the choice of transport mode after Berlin and Munich, each at 21%. Compared to 2001, there was a significant increase in cycling and public transport, a sharp reduction in motorized private transport (2001: 44%) and less walking (2001: 28%).
The federal autobahn A 2 (European route E 30) and the A 7 (E 45) run
through Hanover. In addition, the A 37 and the A 352 as well as the
federal roads B 3, B 6, B 65, B 217, B 441, B 443 and B 522 run through
Hanover's city area. A U-shaped network of motor roads runs around the
center Expressways: Western Expressway, Southern Expressway and the
Messeschnellweg to the east. The north tangent ("Niedersachsenring")
planned in the 1950s was not implemented. With the system of wide roads
implemented in the 1950s as a bypass around the city center (today the
Cityring), which were originally connected with large roundabouts,
Hanover made it onto the cover of Der Spiegel with the headline Das
Wunder von Hannover. In 1825, Hanover was the first city on the European
continent to light up the streets with gas lanterns. A supply contract
was concluded with the Imperial Continental Gas Association for the
delivery of the illuminating gas. In 1902 the world's first mobile
fire-fighting train was handed over in Hanover. The 2/10 hp small car,
mockingly called the "commission bread", was produced by Hanomag from
1924 and was one of the first cars to be produced on an assembly line in
Germany. The VW Bulli has been built at the VW plant in Hanover-Stöcken
since 1956. The VW Beetle was also produced in Hanover, initially in
1973 in the VW Autohaus Hanover-Nordstadt the Nordstadt Beetle (the
shape of a Beetle on a base plate of the Porsche 914/6) and later from
1974 to 1975 in the VW plant in Hanover-Stöcken the type 1 bug. A total
of 43,000 Beetles were produced in Hanover.
Of 3,801 named
streets in the metropolitan area in 2023, 1,314 were named after people.
The proportion of women was 14.38% (189 streets).
The first train station was opened in Hanover in 1847. Numerous renovations and new buildings have taken place over the years. The main train station in its present form was built in 1879. Today it is a first-class long-distance hub. With 280,000 travelers per day, it is one of the ten busiest train stations in Germany. In 2020, Hanover Central Station took second place among the most beautiful train stations in Germany in a ranking by the travel literature provider Travelbook. In addition to regional and S-Bahn trains from various providers, long-distance trains from Deutsche Bahn, ÖBB Nightjet, Flixtrain and Green City Trip stop here all year round, with connections from the UrlaubsExpress (Train4you) also being added seasonally. There are also ten other train stations, but these are only served by the S-Bahn. The last central freight yard in Hanover is the Hanover-Linden freight yard. In addition, there are four other freight yards, a marshalling yard and a depot. Hanomag built steam locomotives from 1846 to 1931 and one of the first motor locomotives in 1880. Railway wagons were made at HAWA for around 30 years. In 1930 the rail zeppelin was built in the Hanover-Leinhausen repair shop.
Üstra operates the Hanover Stadtbahn, which opened in 1975. It
emerged from the Hanover tram and today operates a 127-kilometer-long
route network with 197 stations, including 19 tunnel stations, with
twelve regular and two event lines. The Hanover S-Bahn developed from
the City-Bahn and opened in 2000. It was initially operated by DB Regio.
In December 2021, Transdev Hannover took over three lines and finally
all lines from June 13, 2022. The Hanover S-Bahn now runs a
385-kilometer network with 74 stations, including a tunnel station, with
seven regular lines, two Sprinter lines and one special trade fair line.
DB Regio, Metronom Eisenbahngesellschaft (also with its Enno brand),
Start, Westfalenbahn and Erixx also operate eight regional train and
regional express lines. Together with more than 150 üstra and RegioBus
bus lines, they ensure local public transport in the city and the
surrounding area. The joint tariff of the Verkehrsverbund
Großraum-Verkehr Hannover (GVH) applies to all local buses and trains.
long-distance buses
In 1975 the first central bus station was
built in Hanover. In 2014, a new Hannover central bus station (ZOB) was
opened on the opposite side, replacing the old one. Around 30
long-distance and coach companies head for destinations throughout
Germany and Europe. In 2020, the ADAC tested the largest long-distance
bus terminals in Germany, with the central bus station in Hanover coming
in second.
In the Middle Ages, the Stapel was an inland port on the Leine at the
gates of Hanover. From the end of the 14th century to the beginning of
the 16th century, the port had a certain importance in shipping traffic
from Hanover to Bremen. The name of the former restaurant Bremer Schiff
testified to the former importance of the shipping connection. In the
18th century, the stack was moved to Linden, from where shipping was
still operated until the mid-19th century. In 1917 the port on the Leine
was opened. Although the port ceased operations at the end of the 1930s,
Hanover nevertheless became one of the most important inland port
locations in northern Germany. Today, the Mittelland Canal connects
Hanover for inland shipping via other canals with the Ruhr area, Hamburg
and Berlin. The Anderten lock, the largest inland lock in Europe when it
opened in 1928, overcomes a drop of 14.7 meters in its two lock
chambers.
The "Hannover City Ports" operate four port locations
in Hanover. Nordhafen and Brinker Hafen are located directly on the
Mittelland Canal. The Hanover-Linden branch canal, which branches off in
Seelze, ends after eleven kilometers in the Lindener Hafen. The port of
Misburg is located on the Misburg branch canal, which branches off from
the Mittelland Canal. In 2018, over 1.2 million tons of ship freight and
over 2.3 million tons of rail freight were handled, container handling
was around 77,000 TEU.
In addition to the four industrial ports
already mentioned, the ports of Hanover include several other inland,
yacht, sports and company ports on the Mittelland Canal, the Linden
branch canal, the Leine connecting canal, the Leine, the Ihme and on the
Misburg branch canal.
From 1873 to 2021, passenger shipping was
operated on the rivers and later also on the canals of Hanover. For many
decades, investors in the Black Bear on the Ihme were the main
investors. In 2008 it was replaced by the pier on the Leinert Bridge,
also on the Ihme. Two other regularly approached piers in the city area
were located at the Mittelland Canal in Vahrenwald and at the Nordhafen.
Since 1936, passenger shipping has been operated on the Maschsee. Today,
from April to November, four passenger ships call at six piers along the
shore on a scheduled service. Occasionally, Hanover is approached by
river cruise ships via the Mittelland Canal.
In 1790, Jean-Pierre Blanchard took off from Hanover in a balloon for a demonstration flight and was made an honorary citizen of Hanover immediately after landing. In 1912 the first commercial airship (LZ 11) landed on the Grosse Bult and marked the beginning of commercial aviation in Hanover. As early as 1910, the first Hanoverian flying week took place on the Große Bult. From 1913 to 1933, Waterlooplatz was the traditional launch site for free balloons with many mass starts. Hanover has been connected to the scheduled flight network since 1919. From 1919, Hanover's first official commercial airport was the HAWA factory airport in Linden, which had been in use since 1915. Among other things, HAWA built the HAWA Vampyr and the fighter aircraft of the Hannover CL type here. In 1928 the airport in Linden was replaced by Hanover-Vahrenwald Airport, which had been in operation since 1907. The aviation pioneer Karl Jatho had been working on aircraft here since 1900 at the latest and laid a paved runway in 1907. In 1909 he carried out his first powered flight, which was confirmed by the press, with the "Dragon Flyer No. 4" (he is said to have already managed a powered flight in 1903), later built several other types of aircraft (including the Stahltaube and the Jatho monoplane) and opened a flight school and the Hanoverian aircraft works. From 1912 to 1928 the airport was mainly used by the military, so in addition to the facilities for combat aircraft there was also a Zeppelin hangar from 1914 to 1917 (about 10 army airships were stationed in Hanover). In 1932 Hanover was one of the stops on Elly Beinhorn's solo flight around the world. Between 1933 and 1935, postal rockets were also tested in Hanover under the direction of Albert Püllenberg, using a part of the airport area known as the "rocket port". The end of the Second World War was also the end of the airport in Vahrenwald. Today's Hanover-Langenhagen Airport was opened in 1952, particularly as a result of the Hanover Fair that took place from 1947 onwards. The airport is both on an exclave of the city of Hanover (zip code 30669) and on the urban area of Langenhagen. Today (as of April 2023) there are flight connections to Germany's international hub Frankfurt and to 55 other national and international destinations in scheduled and tourist traffic. 35 airlines fly to the airport, which in 2022 handled almost 4 million passengers (before the Covid-19 pandemic it was over 6 million passengers) and over 36,640 tons of air freight and air mail. The airport is northern Germany's leading tourist airport and home base of the airline TUIfly. In cargo traffic, the airport is a FedEx air gate and night airmail location. In addition, the police helicopter squadron Lower Saxony and "Christoph Lower Saxony" are stationed at the airport, and the airport serves as an alternative airport for the military alarm squads in northern Germany. There was an airfield right next to the exhibition center for many years. In the early years, general aviation aircraft still landed there, later it was replaced by a heliport, which then closed in 2012.
The share of bicycle traffic in the modal split is 19% in inner-city areas. The city wants to increase this percentage in the future. 30 km/h zones are often set up in residential areas. Bicycle roads have been laid out in some places. Bicycle taxis operate in the inner city area during the summer months. Since 2012, Hanover has received overall ratings of between 3.4 and 3.8 (according to school grades 1-6) with minor fluctuations in the biennial bicycle climate tests of the ADFC.
All pedestrian zones in Hanover together have a length of 40 kilometers (almost as much as Berlin), and in relation to the total length of all streets in Hanover, Hanover ranks third among the cities compared in 2018.