HARBOUR CITIES SEA OF ATTRACTIONS
In the next series of stories about the attractions of major harbour cities from the Polish coast we move to the West, to the port and city of Hamburg. Port of Hamburg is almost as old as the city itself. It was founded by Frederick I in 1189 and over the centuries the harbour has served as a major harbour in Central Europe, making Hamburg one of the leading cities for trade at the time. The following centuries were a history of dynamic growth for the harbour and the city. The XIXth century saw another major development of the harbour. With the opening of the Hamburg America Line the importance of the harbour increased and it became the main center of Central Europe for transatlantic passenger and cargo transport. The harbour of Hamburg was not spared by the turmoil of war - after World War I and World War II Hamburg lost much of its infrastructure and had to rebuild its position anew. 16 | Spring 2021 | Lifestyle
T h e w o rk o f re b uil din g i t s gl o b al position was done with German solidity. As a result, the modern harbour of Hamburg is the largest in Germany, af ter Rotterdam and Antwerp, and the third largest in Europe in terms of container throughput. The Hamburg harbour welcomes around 8,000 ships a year and reached 126.3 million tonnes of transshipment in 2020. It is the window to the world for the transport of Germany, as well as neighboring countries. However, let's focus on the city itself. If you have some free time while the ship is in port and you haven't seen Hamburg yet, don't miss the opportunity to see this beautiful and rich city. Instead, to get a better idea of the sights and interesting places of Hamburg, let's take a look at the history of this city. The origins of Hamburg date back to the IV century BC, when the first settlement
was established on the Elbe River. From the IVth to the VIth century AD the area was settled by the Saxons, and in 810 Emperor Charlemagne built a church there to convert them. A fortified town was built to defend the church, which was named Hammaburg in 858. During the Middle Ages Hamburg grew rapidly fuelled by the increasing importance of the river Elbe for trade. Hamburg became the most important Hanseatic port on the North Sea and served as a transshipment point for various goods such as furs, grain, cloth, herring and wood. However, Hamburg's most popular export was beer. The development of the city intensified in 1558, after the opening of the Hamburg Stock Exchange, the first such institution in German-speaking countries. In 1678 the Opera House, one of the first in Europe, was opened. However, the cultural boom of the city
