August 26, 2025
Description
The Hamburg Speicherstadt is a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2015. Built at the end of the 19th century, it was the ultra modern warehouse district of the Hamburg port in its time, with rows and rows of warehouses facing the canals on one side and the street on the opposite site, with cranes for efficient loading and unloading. The construction is all brick, red/brown, so typical for Hamburg and northern Germany. Unlike modern warehouses of today, the architecture is very playful with nooks and crannies, little towers and a lot of decoration.
With containerization of sea traffic the warehouses have become mostly obsolete from the 1960ies on, and a large part of the Speicherstadt was razed around year 2000, making room for the new Hafencity. But about one third of the historic Speicherstadt is still standing, converted to office spaces, coffees and tourist attractions, and is now bustling with life again. Visits are a must for Hamburg visitors, and a boat trip through the canals is highly recommended, a wonderful experience at night when buildings and bridges are illuminated.
The Speicherstadt and adjacent areas with brick buildings have been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site ten years ago, and I built this diorama to celebrate the tenth anniversary which is due in a couple of weeks. I have chosen the eastermost part of the Speicherstadt, from the Poggenmühlenbrücke to the Wasserschloss restaurant. This view is probably the #1 Instagram shot for Hamburg visitors, with dozens of new images daily.
I have included the STL files plus .3MF files for color prints on a Bambu Lab printer. A word of caution: color printing takes quite some time with many time consuming color changes, and will produce quite a bit of waste. But the result is worth it.
Enjoy.
License:
BY-NC-SA