Moving on as our magical history tour continues.
Ironwork on the building's door.
Why would an emperor want to take a boat trip through the underground sewers of Hamburg? There is a "not sure that I believe it story" here about the origin of this tiny Art Nouveau building.
It is a fact that after Hamburg's great fire of 1842 William Lindley, a brilliant British engineer, designed a completely revolutionary brick-vaulted underground sewage system for Hamburg. This was the first underground sewage system in continental Europe. A really big deal. Big enough that "they say" Emperor Wilhelm II planned to visit this new wonder down under and travel through it by boat! Another surprising accomplishment of the new sewage system was the purity of air. Of course, the Kaiser must have a befitting entrance to the sewage system so this small building was built just for that purpose.
The Speicherstadt (storage city) of Hamburg is the world's largest contiguous warehouse district. Hamburg harbor is the third-largest in Europe and since the middle ages goods from every corner of the world have been shipped there. These 8 story high warehouse buildings were used to store top-quality imported goods from around the world like coffee, tea, rum, cocoa, spices, Persian carpets, rubber, and tobacco. In 1887 the most important coffee exchange in the world was located there.
From the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the Speicherstadt enjoyed a duty-free status. The free economic zone of Speicherstadt ended in 2013. Peter added, prior to 2013 when crossing in and out of this tax free zone folks were stopped and checked. Smuggling cigarettes and such purchased from sailors may have been one reason for cars being searched as they exited the zone.
Looking down the canals of the Speicherstadt, the neo-Gothic red-brick warehouses with their turrets, gables, arches, and decorative wrought iron railings appear to go on forever.
Hamburg boasts more bridges than any other city in the world. They claim to have more bridges than Amsterdam, Venice, and London combined. Today this district is a major tourist attraction with restaurants, cafes, museums, and Miniature Wonderland. You guessed it - everything is closed for the German Covid lockdown.
Not just a cloudy Sunday architectural tour today but a bird spotting one as well. Quite possibly this is my first encounter with a Great Cormorant. At any rate, if I ever crossed their paths or perches before, I failed to take notice of them. These are the same expert diving birds that Chinese fishermen have tamed and trained to catch fish. I believe that this type of fishing is done at night with lanterns to attract the fish. A string is tied around the bird's neck so the bird does not swallow the fish but brings it back up to the fisherman. If not for Covid lockdown we may very well have been viewing the Great Commorants in China.
Today's vending machine discovery is in the Portuguese district. This one dispenses cash!
No comments:
Post a Comment