Free sightseeing: the Speicherstadt – warehouses with a lot of history

In 2015, the ensemble ‘Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus District with Chilehaus’ was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. If you visit Hamburg, you should not miss out on the impressive architecture and history of the buildings and neighbourhoods. The narrow canals, bridges and streets along the world’s largest contiguous warehouse complex are an integral part of the Hanseatic city and its identity. Warehouses were built on thousands of oak piles between 1883 and the late 1920s, covering an area of 26 hectares between Baumwall and Oberhafen. Some 24,000 people had to leave their homes and around 1,100 houses were demolished to make way for the warehouses. The most important commodities included coffee, tea, cocoa and rubber. Today, tens of thousands of Oriental carpets are still stored here. If you want to learn more about the Speicherstadt and its history, a visit to the Speicherstadt Museum in one of the 1888 warehouses at Sandtorkai is a good idea. The Speicherstadt is also the right place for those who simply need a break: many of the historic buildings are now used for gastronomic purposes and invite you to enjoy relaxed snacks and drinks between the red stones of the Speicherstadt.