Hamburg – Domplatz

This is the site of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Hamburg, which the city thought would be a marvellous idea to knock down between 1804 and 1807. The real problem was that the church had retained a separate authority until the late eighteenth century and the city authorities didn’t like this power base within the city.

The demolition was a distraction for the city, with the need to reinter 25,000 bodies and then destroy the large cathedral building itself. The stone was taken away and reused in construction projects, with very little remaining of either the building or any of its contents.

These 39 benches, which light up at night, mark where the pillars were once located in the five nave cathedral. The site has only been used as a park for the last few years, it was used as a car park for most of the period following the Second World War.

At the side of Domplatz are these sheets of metal which mark the former location of the Hamburg Wallring, or city walls.