Hamburg Kunsthalle

The Central Staircase of Hamburg’s Kunsthalle, Germany’s largest art museum.

The Kunsthalle occupies three buildings. The building in the photograph is the oldest of the three, completed and opened to the public in 1869.

Visitors enter the Kunsthalle on ground level through the doors at the bottom of the staircase, and ascend to the galleries on the second floor.

The Kunsthalle, a fascinating yet immensely frustrating museum, is nowhere near as stately and impressive as this photograph suggests.

The foyer at the top of the Central Staircase is one of only two rooms in the Kunsthalle that is remarkable.

The other is the Grand Foyer on the ground floor, sheathed in marble and lined with marble columns. The Grand Foyer is now home to a very fine and very elegant restaurant.