Alsterarkaden
20354 Hamburg
The splendid arcades, built by Alexis de Chateauneuf in 1843, house elegant shops and gastronomy.
Alsterarkaden
20354 Hamburg
The splendid arcades, built by Alexis de Chateauneuf in 1843, house elegant shops and gastronomy.

The facilities of the house bout society are 1,200 square metres in size and are located within the Spreehafen. Various ships, house boats and pontoons are available for use. The floating workshops, studios, offices, venues and exhibition rooms were built between 1912 and 1938. They give an impression of life in the harbour in former days, when living and working on the river was part of everyday life in Hamburg. The ships are in good technical order (connected to the electricity supply), they are regularly serviced and some of them have been modernised.

In 1735, the chamber of commerce founded the “Commerzbibliothek”. The aim was to collect all necessary literature for the training of merchants and make them publically available. So one of the most valuable libraries developed over the centuries. Not only merchants have a special interest in it, students, intellectuals and scientists as well. Although there was a huge loss of inventory in time of the Second World War, the “Commercial Library” is back to an inventory of approximately 200,000 Medias. The oldest library of the whole world is in the building of the chamber of commerce. It supports the library financially and organizationally. The reading hall has about 6,000 books and is publically open, the underground with the manor inventory of books isn’t. In 2011 was a complete gutting and redesign of the rooms. The new modern reading hall has two platforms with a gallery.

On Oct.5th 2006 the Europa Passage did open their doors. It is located between Mönckebergstraße and Ballindamm. Hadi Teherani, an architect from Hamburg, created the passage. Therefore, some historical buildings have been cut down under protest to realize the plan of the Europa Passage. Today 16 billion people visit it for going shopping and eating every year.

The Gänsemarkt is located in the heart of Hamburg's city and is popular as central meeting point. The square connects the shopping centres Colonnaden and Gänsemarktpassage with the Jungfernstieg and the shopping streets that lead to the townhall. In the advent season a christmas market is situated on this square.