Hamburg Museum

Hamburg Museum is an excellent place to while away an educational afternoon learning about the growth of the city over the centuries. Trace the many changes in local Hamburgers' lives from the settlement's foundation in the 9th century all the way through to its present-day status as a modern city.

Admire meticulously created scale models of the city and its railway network, which give a fascinating birds-eye view of the urban area, as well as showing how the different areas of the city relate to one another. That emblem of the modern age, the railway, is given pride of place in the form of a fantastic model.

The ground level of the museum looks at well-known Hamburg artists and musicians, while the first floor houses information and artifacts relating to the development of the city during Germany's industrial revolution. It concentrates on the central importance of Hamburg port as the largest in the country and a crucial node in the transportation of goods to and from wider Central Europe. Over 100 model ships are on display, celebrating the best of the different ages of seafaring from the 1600s right through to the last century.

Some of the most traumatic episodes in the city's history are also explored here. The Great Fire of 1842 caused untold destruction, and is tracked here in a number of rare images from the time. A century later, World War II bombing devastated the city again – check out the cutting-edge virtual display of the city at the time. Going back even further, elements from 16th-century timber dwellings and from medieval churches are also preserved here.

Hamburg Museum is found near the Planten un Blomen park in the St Pauli port area of the city, and is near the U-bahn. It is open from Tuesday to Saturday, and there is a fee to enter.