Hanover city models

Contrast between the 1939 and 1945 models

Downstairs in the domed hall of the New town hall are four city models of Hanover that show the interior of Hanover at different times. They are each 4.5 by 5.5 metres in size and provide a realistic picture of the respective years. In addition to the "nucleus" from 1689, the state in 1939 - before the bombing raids - and 1945 is particularly impressive. The first air raids on the city took place as early as May 1940. Bombs fell in Misburg, later also in the southern part of the town. In addition to industrial sites and railway lines, residential buildings and monuments were soon targeted.

The attacks by British bombers from July 1943 onwards were particularly heavy, with the Leineschloss, Opera House, Kröpcke and, in October, Herrenhausen Palace (which was rebuilt in 2011) being destroyed. Of the 100 or so air raids on Hanover, the night of 9 October 1943 was the heaviest.

90 per cent destroyed - 250,000 homeless

In the city centre, 90 percent of the buildings were destroyed after the war, and more than 50 percent in the rest of the city. The model of the "Stadtmodelle Hannover" from 1945 shows this quite realistically. According to the statistics, 3,932 residential buildings were completely destroyed and 18,832 were severely damaged. There were many dead and around 250,000 homeless people who now tried to find temporary accommodation in the surrounding areas of Hanover. The last model shows the rebuilt Hanover of 1951, which has been updated and supplemented again and again to this day.

© Michael Siebert

Hanover to feel, see and understand

Since summer 2021, a new model of the city centre has stood in front of Ernst-August-Platz (at the main railway station) near the musical manhole cover (corner of Bahnhofstraße). It is a 3.4 tonne bronze piece on granite to "feel, see and grasp". The 1.6 x 1.6 metre object can be felt and is supplemented by Braille. If you look closely, you can even recognise this model as a miniature. It was financed by the Hanover Community Foundation, the Rut and Klaus Bahlsen Foundation, Dirk Rossmann GmbH and the state capital of Hanover. The 70,000 euro gem of the "Hanover City Models" was created by artist Felix Broerken.