Neues Rathaus

The Neues Rathaus stands at the southern edge of Hanover's inner city, just outside the historic centre. Architects Hermann Eggert and Gustav Halmhuber gave it its castle-like silhouette in the era of Emperor Wilhelm the Second. It opened on 20 June 1913 after twelve years of construction. The ten-hectare Maschpark wraps around it, and the building is wheelchair accessible.

The whole structure rests on 6,026 beech piles, and its construction cost ten million marks. The Kaiser attended the inauguration, where the city director announced that the town hall had been paid for in cash. It replaced the Wangenheim Palace as the main seat of administration and still houses the mayor. Wartime bombs damaged the building, and in 1946 the state of Lower Saxony came into being in its thirty-eight-metre hall. Four city models on the ground floor trace how Hanover changed across the decades. The square in front, first named for Heinrich Tramm as Trammplatz, became Platz der Menschenrechte in 2024.

The dome rises 97.73 metres and carries an observation platform. The lift that reaches it is unique in the world: it follows an arched course that matches the parabolic shape of the dome. It climbs a fifty-metre shaft at an angle of up to seventeen degrees. The original lift of 1913 ran on steam-bent oak tracks, and a replacement took over in 2007. On a clear day, the view from the platform reaches as far as the Harz mountains.