5/5 Ghasem A. 1 year ago on Google • 88 reviews
Just
a
few
steps
away
from
the
City
Hall,
St.
Petri,
named
for
the
apostle
Petrus,
is
one
of
Hamburg's
five
main
Christian
churches.
Built
in
the
eleventh
century,
it
became
Hamburg's
oldest
church
after
the
Mariendom
was
torn
down
in
1805.
Although
during
the
Great
Fire
of
1842
the
Gothic
church
was
entirely
consumed
by
the
flames,
just
seven
years
later,
the
newly
reconstructed
building
was
introduced
to
the
public.
During
WWII,
in
July
of
1943,
the
air
attacks
of
'Operation
Gomorrah'
caused
yet
another
massive
fire
in
the
city.
Fortunately,
this
time
tower
wasn't
seriously
damaged,
though
the
same
cannot
be
said
of
the
rest
of
the
city,
nearly
half
of
which
was
destroyed.
If
you
manage
to
climb
the
544
steps
to
the
viewing
platform,
you'll
be
rewarded
with
a
beautiful
view
through
the
tower's
portholes.
From
this
remarkable
height,
you
overlook
the
entire
city
centre,
including
the
City
Hall,
the
Alster
Lakes
and
even
the
cranes
in
the
port
far
in
the
distance.
The
tower
is
open
from
Monday
to
Saturday
between
11:00
a.m.
and
5:00
p.m.
The
last
entry
to
the
tower's
staircase
is
at
4:30
p.m.
Visiting
hours
may
change,
so
please
check
the
church's
website
for
the
latest
information.
It
is
believed
that
the
church
is
near
the
original
Hammaburg
area
and
that
a
previous
church
or
cathedral
existed
on
the
site.
St.
Peter's
was
probably
built
in
early
1189;
it
was
first
documented
in
1195
as
a
market
church
or
ecclesia
forensis.
About
1310
it
was
rebuilt
in
a
Gothic
style
and
was
completed
around
1418.
The
bronze
lion-head
door
handles,
the
oldest
work
of
art
of
Hamburg,
date
from
the
foundation
of
the
tower
in
1342.
The
tower,
topped
with
a
new
copper-covered
spire
in
1516,
at
127.5
m
towered
above
even
that
of
the
neighbouring
Hamburg
Cathedral,
but
was
surpassed
itself
already
in
1518
by
the
tower
of
St.
Nicholas
Church
at
initially
135
m.
Decay
and
political
tensions
caused
the
cathedral
to
be
torn
down
between
1804
and
1807.
Under
the
subsequent
French
occupation
St.
Peter's
along
with
most
of
the
other
main
churches
in
1813
was
commandeered
by
Napoleonic
soldiers
to
be
used
as
a
horse
stable.[1][2][3]
Only
a
few
decades
later
it
fell
victim
to
the
great
fire
that
swept
Hamburg
in
May
1842.
Most
works
of
art,
such
as
the
lion-head
door
handles,
were
saved.
The
St.
Peter's
portal
gateway
was
heavily
damaged
in
the
fire
but
was
saved
and
ended
up
being
built
into
the
Museum
für
Hamburgische
Geschichte
(established
in
1922
and
called
Hamburg
Museum
since
2005),
and
the
doorway
itself
was
restored
again
in
1995.
Only
seven
years
after
the
great
fire,
the
Gothic
church
was
rebuilt
by
architects
Alexis
de
Chateauneuf
and
Hermann
Felsenfest
in
its
previous
location.
In
1878,
the
132
meter
high
church
tower
—
its
copper
spire
designed
years
earlier
by
Johann
Hermann
Maack
[de]
—
was
finished.
In
the
first
half
of
the
20th
century,
the
parish
lost
many
members,
as
residential
neighborhoods
were
torn
down
to
develop
banks
and
department
stores
in
the
city
center.
The
church
got
through
the
Second
World
War
relatively
intact.
In
1962,
as
a
nearby
community
center
was
being
built,
the
foundations
of
a
medieval
tower,
the
Bischofsturm
("Bishop's
Tower")
were
discovered.
In
1979,
nuclear
power
protesters,
including
the
late
pastor
Christoph
Stoermer,
occupied
the
cathedral.
From
2005
to
2007,
the
west
and
south
facades
of
the
church
were
hung
with
giant
posters
advertising
the
H&M
chain
of
clothing
stores,
thus
providing
funding
for
maintenance
of
the
cathedral.
Source:
hamburg
.
com
and
wikipedia
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