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Hamburg, the Free and Hanseatic City, led the Hanseatic League, the German trading alliance. With around 1.8 million inhabitants, it is Germany's second-largest city. One of its best-known landmarks is surely the Michel, as locals call the Protestant St. Michael's Church (St. Michaelis). It is the most famous Baroque church in northern Germany. Because it is so clearly visible from the Elbe, the Michel, with its 132.14-metre tower, is regarded as the symbol of Hamburg. The church is dedicated to the Archangel Michael, and a large bronze statue above the high altar shows St Michael fighting Satan. The church stands in the southern part of the Neustadt district. In 1906, the Michel was destroyed by a fire that broke out during soldering work on damaged copper plates; it was rebuilt in 1912. Its history goes back a long way: around 1600, what was then called the Kleiner Michel (Little Michel) was built outside the city walls of the time, and from 1625 the residents of Hamburg's Neustadt used it for their religious gatherings. However, the chapel became too small for the steadily growing congregation, and a larger new building was needed.
From 1647, master builders Peter Marquard and Christoph Corbinus built a new church on the site of today's Michel.
On the morning of 10 March 1750, the church tower was struck by lightning during a thunderstorm and collapsed. The tower fell onto the main building, which gave way under the weight, caught fire and was completely destroyed.
Lingovo, Schürbeker Straße 5, 22087 Hamburg
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The foundation stone for the second Michel was laid in 1751. Construction was to last until 1762, but the building was not truly finished until its tower of wood and copper was completed in 1786.
From the 19th century onwards, the tower of the Hamburger Michel was also used for science: in 1802, Johann Friedrich Benzenberg successfully carried out drop experiments here to prove the Earth's rotation – almost 50 years before Léon Foucault's famous pendulum experiment.
During the Second World War, Allied bombing raids (Operation Gomorrah) practically reduced the entire area around the church to rubble. The church itself initially remained almost undamaged and was even used as an air-raid shelter for a time. Between 1944 and 1945, however, bombs hit the church's nave. Repairing the damage took from 1947 until around 1952, and the Michel was reconsecrated in 1952. The baptismal font and the so-called Gotteskasten (alms chest) from 1763 have survived.
The tower, with its viewing platform at a height of 83 metres, remains a popular tourist attraction to this day. If you would rather skip the 452 steps to the top – and even the 52 steps up to the lift on the first floor – you can enjoy the view over the city via webcams.
The clock in the Michel's tower is the largest of its kind in Germany. It was built by an ancestor of the well-known illustrator Tomi Ungerer and was in operation from 1911. It was converted to electric drive in 1964 and has been radio-controlled since 1994.
Every morning at 10 am and every evening at 9 pm, the Michel's tower keeper plays a chorale on the trumpet from the platform, 106 metres above the rooftops of Hamburg.
