The Speicherstadt was both an architectural landmark and a working district. Built between 1885 and 1927, this quarter of superlatives encompassed 330,000 m² of storage space. Every street and canal, along with 23 bridges, had to be constructed from scratch. The Speicherstadtmuseum chronicles this remarkable development through historical photographs and architectural plans. Yet the museum does not shy away from a harder truth: an entire medieval quarter was demolished to make way for the warehouse blocks and customs canal, displacing 19,400 residents from their homes. The special exhibition "Lost and Forgotten," on view through January 5, 2025, documents the devastating toll of World War II on the Speicherstadt. Rare historical photographs—many never before publicly displayed—reveal the full extent of the war's impact on this UNESCO World Heritage district. The exhibition also showcases architect Werner Kallmorgen's meticulous reconstruction of the damaged warehouse blocks. During the Second World War, the Speicherstadt endured repeated aerial bombardment. Of the 17 warehouse blocks directly affected, three were total losses. Another twelve suffered such severe damage that only fragments survived the war's end. The customs buildings lining the canal were similarly destroyed. The exhibition meticulously documents each loss. Because photographs from the 1920s and 1930s are scarce, the exhibition draws primarily on images from the Imperial era when these structures were originally built—a valid approach, given that the Speicherstadt remained largely unchanged when war broke out. The postwar reconstruction strategy was twofold: partially destroyed blocks were faithfully rebuilt, while new construction carefully matched the existing ensemble in material and proportions. This sensitive approach earned explicit recognition when UNESCO designated the Speicherstadt a World Heritage Site in 2015. Yet looking at these historical photographs, one unavoidable truth emerges: the Speicherstadt's original character, irretrievably altered by war and time, cannot be fully recovered.

On view through January 5, 2025

Speicherstadt Museum (Branch of the Museum of Work)

Sandtorkai 36, 20457 Hamburg

www.shmh.de/speicherstadtmuseum