Hidden Jugendstil in Hamburg or Art Nouveau

As I mentioned previously, and much to my surprise, Hamburg has a large amount (and tradition) of Jugendstill (or Art Nouveau) in architecture, decoration, posters, furniture, etc. In several Antique stores in downtown (not to mention the big antiques auction warehouses around Blankenese) have some really beautiful Art Nouveau / Jugendstil objects.

In the photos above you can see the ceiling of a passage located some meters away from the Hamburg Rathaus. It depicts some sort of Art Nouveau / Jugendstill painting, and I guess it used to be the advertising of a bakery or a pastry shop. It is always good to remember, when you are visiting a city and doing some sightseeing, to look up, and you might surprise yourself.

Opposite to the Art Nouveau / Jugendstill plates, posters, furniture, etc for sale in the Antique stores I mentioned, it is very probable that the painting on the ceiling is just a reconstruction and it is no older than 30 years old. Whereas this sort of art goes back perhaps even to the late 19th century, or, at the latest, 1940.

However, sometimes it is better to have the illusion that it is indeed old. When we visit Barcelona, Paris or London, we (naively) expect that all that we see is just as how it was 50 or 100 years ago. And if we don't, we don't even consider that the building we are looking at, was just refurbished last year or that it had to be adapted to have emergency exits or toilets for tourists.

The painting and the passage is one of my favourite places in Hamburg. It inspires you to dream how it was when Art Nouveau / Jugendstil was all over the place: in buildings, furniture, posters, clothes, book covers, etc. If you are in Hamburg and you want to visit this passage, go to the street called Neuer Wall and where the number 13 is supposed to be, there is the passage.

And don't forget to look up!