The harbour outlook
Its western edge looks over the docks.
Abubiju โ CC BY-SA 3.0 ยท Sebastian Wallroth โ CC BY 4.0 ยท Sebastian Wallroth โ CC BY 4.0 ยท Sebastian Wallroth โ CC BY 4.0
It is the chain of parks forming an arc around the city centre, all laid out on the ground of the defensive fortifications demolished after the French occupation in the early nineteenth century. Rather than sell the land for building, the city decided to turn it into public space โ a decision that changed Hamburg's shape permanently, and today you can walk almost the entire arc without leaving greenery.
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The Alter Elbpark is a small green space on a rise between central Hamburg and the harbour district, and among the oldest public parks in the city โ laid out in the mid-nineteenth century on the ground of the old fortifications after they were cleared. That origin is shared by most of Hamburg's central parks: when the city walls came down in the early nineteenth century, the ring of land they had occupied became a chain of connected gardens encircling the centre โ a pattern repeated in many German cities and known as the green ring. Today the park is known mainly for what stands in it: the huge Bismarck monument rising thirty-five metres at the top of the rise. The park itself is sloped, with mature trees, paths and benches, and its western edge looks over the harbour. It is a natural passing point between the centre and the Landungsbrucken piers rather than a destination in itself.
Its western edge looks over the docks.
Part of a belt laid out on the city walls.
Alter Elbpark, 20359 Hamburg