23 Best Sights in Hannover to See

Hannover, the capital of Lower Saxony, is a university city and an important economic center of Germany. Once, it was also the residence of the electors. The Hanoverian dynasty produced three kings for Great Britain.

In Hannover itself, the magnificent Herrenhausen Gardens remain as a tribute to this royal lineage. This mosaic of royal parks and palaces continues to serve as an important historical attraction in Hannover. Important, but far from the only one. The Old Town Hall and Eilenriede Park, Sprengel Museum and St. Godehard's Church, Leibniz House and Marienburg Castle... But let's go through everything in order...

A pride of Hannover is the group of gardens from the times of the imperial electors and kings of Hanover. The Great Garden, laid out in the 17th century by Electress Sophia of Hannover, invariably attracts the most interest with its French Baroque style.

In this 50-hectare garden, besides the palace, you will find numerous sculptures, fountains, labyrinths with hedges, and a greenhouse. The latter serves as a majestic backdrop for classical music concerts held here. In the summer, plays and musical performances take place in the Garden Theatre of Sophia.

The palace, which was almost destroyed during the war, has only recently been restored. Since 2013, it houses three exhibition halls of the Hanover Historical Museum, telling about the Herrenhausen Gardens and prominent inhabitants of Hannover, such as Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.

Address: Herrenhäuser Gärten, Herrenhäuser Straße, Hannover, Germany.

Another of the Herrenhausen Gardens worthy of mention is Berggarten (which translates from German as 'Mountain Garden'). Originally, Berggarten was conceived as a vegetable garden to grow vegetables and herbs for the palace kitchen.

However, Electress Sophia decided to use this space for growing exotic plants. The first greenhouse was built here in 1686 to cultivate crops such as tobacco and mulberry trees. Now, Berggarten is one of the leading botanical gardens in the world.

It contains about 20,000 plants from 3,000 species. There are four greenhouses for tropical plants, cacti, and subtropical flora from the Canary Islands. But the main attraction of this garden is the Orchid House, which boasts the largest collection of orchids in Europe, consisting of 800 plants from 300 species.

Address: Berggarten Hannover, Herrenhäuser Straße, Hannover, Germany.

In the 1810s, King George III purchased a estate east of the Great Garden, renaming the existing palace and park in his honor. In this long but narrow plot of land, gardens in the English style were laid out with lawns and groves scattered throughout.

A beautiful two-kilometer avenue runs from one end of the park to the other, and you should try to locate the temple erected in honor of the great German scholar Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.

This monument was created in the late 1780s but was originally located at the main square of Hannover (now Waterloo Square) and was later moved to the Georgengarten. The Georgengarten Palace currently houses the Wilhelm Busch Museum, which we will discuss later.

Address: Georgengarten, Jägerstraße, Hannover, Germany.

The Lower Saxony State Museum has a little bit of everything. It covers a wide range of topics - from natural sciences and ethnology to archaeology and fine arts.

The museum's art gallery features a wonderful collection of paintings by 19th-century romantics like Caspar David Friedrich and impressionists like Max Liebermann. The museum rightly boasts works by Rubens, Rembrandt, and Albrecht Dürer.

Don't overlook the other exhibition halls. In the archaeology department, you can see Bronze Age jewelry and mummified human remains from the marshy regions of Lower Saxony, in the natural history department - mounted dinosaur specimens and an aquarium with exotic fish, and in the ethnology department - about 20,000 works of traditional art from Oceania, Africa, America, and Asia.

Address: Lower Saxony State Museum, Willy-Brandt-Allee, Hannover, Germany.

The Sprengel Museum, which aims to introduce the public to prominent figures in contemporary German art, is a cultural landmark that absolutely must be on your must-visit list.

The museum was founded in 1979, ten years after chocolate manufacturer Bernhard Sprengel donated his collection of contemporary artworks to the city.

Following Sprengel's example, other private collectors in Lower Saxony also donated their artistic treasures to the museum.

As a result, a world-class collection was formed, allowing visitors to trace major trends in art after 1945. Museum-goers can see paintings by Pablo Picasso, Paul Klee, Max Ernst, Max Beckmann, Emil Nolde, Fernand Léger, as well as works from both expressionist groups - Die Brücke and Der Blaue Reiter.

Address: Sprengel Museum, Kurt-Schwitters-Platz, Hannover, Germany.

The magnificent building of the New Town Hall in Hannover, in a theatrical historic style, was built in the early 20th century. This structure, located in front of an artificial lake, with a high central dome and two towers, looks more like a palace than an administrative building.

Most of the town hall's premises are open to visitors during guided tours. Among the rooms you will pass through, the most impressive is likely the Hodler Hall.

It will leave a lasting memory due to its wall painting created by Swiss symbolist artist Ferdinand Hodler, depicting Hannover during the Reformation era.

Under the dome, visitors can see four large models showcasing Hannover at different stages in its history. The model illustrating the extent of the city's destruction during World War II usually captures a lot of interest from guests. A special elevator, which tracks the dome's curvature, will take you to an observation deck nearly 100 meters above ground.

Address: New Town Hall, Trammplatz, Hannover, Germany.

The Old Town Hall located in Marktplatz is the oldest secular building in Hannover - constructed in the early 15th century. The earliest part of the structure is on the eastern side, on Schmiedestraße. The section on the western side, on Koblenzerstraße, was updated in the neo-Romanesque style in the 19th century.

This architectural monument, unmistakably recognizable due to its elaborate gables, is the southernmost example of North German brick Gothic architecture. The facade on Schmiedestraße is adorned with coats of arms and portraits of electors and princes, as well as depictions of ludersichen - an old-fashioned pastime similar to tug-of-war but using pinky fingers instead of a rope.

Address: ATRIUM Altes Rathaus Hannover, Karmarschstraße, Hannover, Germany.

The creation of the artificial lake near the New Town Hall, covering 78 hectares, was in a sense a response to the Great Depression.

Hannover had long suffered from spring floods, and in 1934, to alleviate flooding while also addressing the mass unemployment of that period, the city authorities decided to create a lake in the floodplain of the Leine River.

An interesting technical detail: every day, the water level in the lake must decrease by one centimeter due to natural evaporation. To prevent this, the water supply is constantly replenished through a pumping station and a network of ponds on the southern shore of the lake.

But for the general public, Maschsee is not merely an important hydraulic structure; it is primarily a recreation area. In the summer, you can engage in water sports or simply stroll along the lush bank adorned with sculptures by Alexander Calder, Georg Kolbe, and Arno Breker.

Address: Maschsee, Hannover, Germany.

The silhouette of Hannover would be quite different without the 14th-century Marktkirche, located in the center of the Old Town (Altstadt). Its distinctive feature is the tower with four pointed gables.

History says that the tower was supposed to be taller, but in the 1360s, due to the bubonic plague epidemic, the city was catastrophically short of funds, so they simply added a spire to what had already been built.

The Market Church suffered significantly from bombings during World War II, but most of the destruction was successfully restored.

When you are here, you must take the time to admire the three eastern stained glass windows, which date back to 1370, as well as the high altar from 1480, the main decorations of which are gilded sculptural panels depicting scenes from the Passion of Christ.

Address: Marktkirche Hannover, Hanns-Lilje-Platz, Hannover, Germany.

The history of Aegidienkirche, the easternmost of the old city churches in Hannover, dates back to 1163. The church's latest design in the Gothic style is from the 14th century, while the baroque facade of the tower is from the early 18th century.

Part of its original appearance largely remains to this day. During World War II, it was heavily damaged by bombings. After the war, it was restored but not entirely.

The nave and the altar were left in a dilapidated, roofless condition to serve as a reminder of the horrors of war.

Inside Aegidienkirche, there is the Peace Bell, given by Hannover's sister city Hiroshima. Every year, on August 6th, a memorial service is held at the church, and throughout the day, the bell tolls every hour in memory of the victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Address: Aegidienkirche, Aegidienkirchhof, Hannover, Germany.

Historic Museum

This section has been removed. Its contents have been transferred to the lower section, the 'Hannover Museum of History'.

Eilenriede is twice the size of New York's Central Park. Essentially, it is a forest located almost in the center of Hannover (its western entrance is only a ten-minute walk from the main train station).

For 600 years, Eilenriede has served as a forested area used for timber harvesting, and only in the 19th century was it opened to the public. Today, it is one of the largest urban forests in Europe, featuring large stretches of oak and beech, interspersed with lawns, lakes, and playgrounds. The park contains several cafés and information posts about the animals living there - deer, rabbits, martens, bats.

Address: Stadtwald Eilenriede, Hohenzollernstraße, Hannover, Germany.

In Laatzen, just south of Hannover, there is a small but very interesting Aviation History Museum. It showcases a collection put together by enthusiast and entrepreneur Günther Leonhardt, whose love for old airplanes is so great that he once even salvaged several Junkers JU-52s from the depths of a Norwegian lake beyond the Arctic Circle.

The museum presents a total of 36 aircraft and 30 piston and jet engines, as well as nearly 700 aviation technology models. The rarest and most valuable exhibits include the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, Spitfire, Messerschmitt Bf 109, as well as an intact turbojet engine from Junkers Jumo 004.

Most aviation equipment on display in the museum pertains to the Second World War. From the post-war period, there are Lockheed F-104 Starfighter and MiG-15 fighters. In short, if you are not traveling solely with all-female company, then a visit here is simply destined for you, as this museum is precisely the place every boy, from six to sixty, should see while in Hannover.

Address: Luftfahrtmuseum Laatzen-Hannover e.V., Ulmer Straße, Laatzen, Germany.

This museum, located in the Georgengarten Palace, contains the world's largest collection of works by the famous 19th-century humorist poet and cartoonist Wilhelm Busch. Here, you will see his paintings, drawings, sketches, and original manuscripts for works like the world-renowned book 'Max and Moritz'.

The museum has also gathered thousands of works by other artists from the same period or those sharing Busch's bold worldview. Among the paintings displayed in the museum are works by William Hogarth, George Cruikshank, Francisco Goya, Jean Granville, Walter Trier, and around 700 caricatures of Napoleon. You can also familiarize yourself with the work of contemporary cartoonists such as Steve Bell, Jean-Jacques Sempé, and Tomi Ungerer.

Address: Wilhelm-Busch-Museum, Georgengarten, Hannover, Germany.

Philosopher, mathematician, diplomat, and historian Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz spent 40 years of his life in Hannover. In this Renaissance mansion, he lived, and here he passed away in 1716. To be honest, this is not quite the original building since Leibniz's actual house did not survive the war.

What we see today is a reconstruction from the 1980s using the original facade of a building that stood slightly elsewhere. The reliefs around the vaulted windows on this facade are worth photographing.

Several interiors of this house are used for various events, but there is also exhibition space where you can see some artifacts from Leibniz's life. The most impressive is his calculating machine, which operates similarly to Pascal's calculator but employs a binary counting system that is the basis for modern computers.

Address: Leibnizhaus, Holzmarkt, Hannover, Germany.

Just beyond the eastern edge of Hannover lies the Tiergarten park, covering 112 hectares, which once served as a hunting ground for the electors and kings of Hanover. You will not doubt the great age of the Tiergarten when you see the 650-year-old oak at the entrance and many 400-500-year-old oaks throughout the extensive woodland.

Around 150 roe deer roam freely here, and there are large enclosures for wild boars. Additionally, the park is home to several species of bats, owls, hawks, falcons, foxes, badgers, and Egyptian geese.

Address: Hannover Tiergarten, Tiergartenstraße, Hannover, Germany.

The August Kestner Museum is the oldest museum in Hannover, opened in 1889. Its extensive collection includes ancient artifacts from Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as well as examples of European applied arts over the last several hundred years.

This museum is a true find for history and antique lovers. Here, they can find examples of Etruscan art, Greek vases, mummies, papyrus, and sculptures from Ancient Egypt, medieval manuscripts, decorative objects made from ivory and bronze.

Additionally, the August Kestner Museum houses the largest coin collection in Northern Germany, consisting of 120,000 pieces covering 2,500 years. A notable mention is the museum's location. It is situated in a neorenaissance building shaped like a cube, with a surface 'broken' by 5,000 small windows.

Address: Museum August Kestner, Trammplatz, Hannover, Germany.

On Ernst-August-Platz, right in front of the main entrance to the Hauptbahnhof (Main Train Station), stands the monument to King Ernest Augustus of Hanover.

His reign lasted from 1837 to 1851, and if you are interested in the historical ties between Hanover and the British throne, he was the fifth son of King George III and the uncle of Queen Victoria.

Ernest Augustus is depicted on horseback, dressed in a full hussar uniform. The bronze statue was cast in 1861 and stands on a granite pedestal inscribed with 'Dem Landesvater / Sein treues Volk', which translates to 'To the Father of the Country from his Loyal People'.

Address: Ernst-August-Denkmal, Kurt-Schumacher-Straße, Hannover, Germany.

At the intersection of Georgstraße and Bahnhofstraße, in the center of Kröpcke Square, named after the local café, stands the clock of the same name, dating back to 1885. (In fact, the current clock is an exact replica of the first one that stood here.)

Behind its glass panels, posters of exhibitions and other major events taking place in Hannover are displayed. The Kröpcke Clock is a rare example of classical design in the modern part of the city. Like the statue of Ernest Augustus, this clock is a traditional meeting point for Hannoverans, which attests to its popularity among local residents.

Address: Kröpcke-Uhr Hannover, Passerelle, Hannover, Germany.

If you decide to take a day trip outside of Hannover, we recommend heading to Marienburg Castle - a neo-Gothic palace located 20 kilometers south of the city, on the slope of Marienburg Hill.

This palace was established in 1857 by King George V of Hanover, who decided to make such a gift for his wife, Marie of Saxony-Altenburg, on her birthday. When Hanover was annexed by Prussia in 1866, George V and his wife were exiled from their country. Their residence remained vacant for several decades until after World War II.

Today, Marienburg Castle is open to the public. Guests who do not speak German can take an audio tour that will guide you through the luxurious halls decorated with antique furniture from the Royal House of Hanover's collection. At the end of this audio-guided walk through the castle, you will find yourself at the top of the 44-meter-high main tower.

Address: Marienburg Castle, Marienberg, Pattensen, Germany.

Along Georgstraße stands the neoclassical building of the Hannover Opera House. This magnificent structure, built in 1852, is currently home to the city's opera company, Staatsoper Hannover.

Due to recent renovations, the theater has been transformed, and today fans of opera or ballet are thrilled not only by the magnificent performances but also by the hall in which they take place, as well as the overall festive atmosphere that has been created here. The theater season at Hannover Opera runs from September to June.

Address: Staatsoper Hannover GmbH, Opernplatz, Hannover, Germany.

Founded in 1865 on the outskirts of Eilenriede Park, Hannover Zoo is the fifth oldest zoological park in Germany. Today, the zoo is home to over 3,400 animals, and about one and a half million people come to see them each year.

Visitors are particularly intrigued by the entertainment sections of the park, such as the seasonal 'Winter Zoo' with its Christmas themes and events, the children's area 'Mullewapp', and Meyer Farm, where you can explore authentic half-timbered structures from the 19th century collected from across Lower Saxony, as well as a Disney-style attraction - a boat ride along the Zambezi River through open enclosures featuring animals like rhinoceroses and elephants.

To find out about planned upcoming events, as well as feeding times for the animals, you only need to visit the zoo's website.

Address: Erlebnis-Zoo Hannover, Adenauerallee, Hannover, Germany.

You will find the Hannover Museum of History on the banks of the Leine River, on the western side of the Altstadt. It is on this road from Bremen to Hildesheim that Hannover was once founded. The museum is located in one of the city's oldest buildings, part of which is the Bägidenturm - the last wholly preserved tower of Hannover.

Remnants of the city's fortifications and a 17th-century ducal arsenal have also been functionally integrated into the museum building. Here you will gain insight into over 900 years of Hannover's history, from the earliest documented events in the late 12th century up to the present day.

You will see how Hannover transformed from a small medieval market settlement to a relatively large modern city, having gone through the duchy of Welf, the principality of Calenberg, and the royal house of Hanover.

You will learn about Hannover's connection to the British royal family, and you can also explore a display of cultural and religious artifacts from the region. (Be sure to check out the four elegant carriages that once belonged to members of the royal family, along with a display of antique clothing and weapons.) Tip: Plan your visit to the museum on a Friday, and you will be rewarded with free admission. It will take you two to three hours to see all the exhibits.

Address: Historisches Museum Hannover, Pferdestraße, Hannover, Germany.

'SEA LIFE' is one of the most interesting attractions in the city and a great way to spend an exciting few hours with your children. This aquarium provides an opportunity to see up close 3,500 marine creatures living in various corners of the globe - from the nearby Leine River to distant tropical seas.

In its 37 tanks of varying sizes, you will find amazing creatures like Cuban crocodiles, rays, octopuses, and sharks, as well as many tropical fish and turtles. One of the best experiences is the walk through the long glass tunnel under the biggest tank. You can also watch feeding sessions of the inhabitants of 'SEA LIFE' or join educational 'Ranger Talks' discussing tropical forests.

Address: SEA LIFE Centre Hannover, Herrenhäuser Straße, Hannover, Germany.