Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/06/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Be warned, quite a lot coming up - Glorious weather yesterday, and it still is, took a walk around the centre of town and took a few pictures of some of the "attractions" Starting at the Opera http://gallery.leica-users.org/New-Old-Pictures/MG_3961_edited_1 The figures around the top are Shakespeare, Goethe, Schiller and co (strange - they didn't have much to do with opera, but King George was mad anyway), down Georgstrasse past the Holocaust Memorial http://gallery.leica-users.org/New-Old-Pictures/MG_3964_edited_1 which always looks out of focus on pictures (it isn't) The sloping sides have the names of many Jewish residents of Hannover and neighbouring towns who were deported to more or less certain death in Riga, Auschwitz and Treblinka. The Deutsche Bank, parts of this portal turn up in Kurt Schwitters "Merz" collages http://gallery.leica-users.org/New-Old-Pictures/MG_3967_edited_1 Schwitters, born in Hannover, died in exile in the UK, is now buried in a cemetary in the North West of Hannover. The name Merz came from an inscription on another Hannoverian bank, and is part of the word "Commerz" (meaning commerce). At the end of Georgstrasse, not far from Aegidientor Platz ( with the Hiroshima Memorial church ruin - next time) is the Landesmuseum, everything is in there, Dinosaurs, paintings of Prussians (it was the museum of the Prussian Provincfe of Hannover after the Kings got kicked out) http://gallery.leica-users.org/New-Old-Pictures/MG_3972_edited_1. Behind where I was standing to take this shot is the Maschpark, this landscaped garden is one of my favourite combinations of gardening and architecture, as can be seen in the next four shots of the Rathaus, this one is called the "New" Rathaus, Hannover has two, the old one is in the Altstadt http://gallery.leica-users.org/New-Old-Pictures/MG_3972_edited_1 There's nothing wrong with my lens, the building really is bent - it was built on marshy ground on a platform of oak logs and it's sinking a bit at both ends. http://gallery.leica-users.org/New-Old-Pictures/MG_3975_edited_1 The interior of the green dome is unique in having a lift which runs on rails up the inside of the curved dome, the floor of the lift is only level when you reach the viewing platform at the top. In a couple of weeks the water in the forground of this shot will be a carpet of water lilies - but then the reflection has gone. http://gallery.leica-users.org/New-Old-Pictures/MG_3988_edited_1 . The Ugly glass building on the right is the new Regional Bank, http://gallery.leica-users.org/New-Old-Pictures/MG_3990_edited_1 . Crossing the river, the Leine (Hannover comes from Am Hohen Ufer, meaning on the higher river bank) you reach the Wasserkunst, this used to be a timbered, water powered mill and pumping station, very old and beautiful - it was pulled down in the mid-sixties. http://gallery.leica-users.org/New-Old-Pictures/MG_3993_edited_1 The Schloss is now the seat of the Parliament of Lower Saxony, the church on the right is the immense red-brick gothic Marktkirche. There's no pigeon guano on this church because a pair of Peregrine Falcons took up residence in the tower some years ago. I'll comment on the following pictures when I've a bit more time Comments criticism and questions about Hannover are more than welcome cheers Douglas