Hamburg Kunsthalle II

This photograph depicts the original Hamburg Kunsthalle, an 1869 neo-Renaissance structure that, miraculously, emerged from World War II largely unscathed. (In contrast, Hamburg’s Central Train Station, two blocks to the south, was totally destroyed by Allied bombs.)

A second, neo-Classical building was added to the Kunsthalle in 1919. A third, international-style high-rise building (from which this photograph was taken) was added in 1997.

Only the original Kunsthalle building is of architectural interest. The 1997 building, especially, is very poor, hopelessly out-of-date by more than thirty years at the time of its completion.