About this place
When the Great Fire of 1842 destroyed a third of the old town, architect Alexis de Chateauneuf rebuilt this waterfront not with cramped merchant houses but with an airy, Venetian-style arcade, completed in 1846. Today the white arches frame views of the Rathaus across the Kleine Alster, where Hamburg's famous swans — city property since the Middle Ages — glide beneath the balustrade. Halfway along, an easy-to-miss doorway leads into the Mellin-Passage, Hamburg's oldest covered shopping passage, with art nouveau ceiling frescoes rediscovered during restoration.
Key facts
- 1846 year — The Venetian-style arcades were completed after the Great Fire
- 1842 year — The Great Fire destroyed a third of Hamburg's old town
- 1989 year — A fire led to the rediscovery of the Mellin-Passage's art nouveau frescoes
📍 Alsterarkaden 11, 20354, Hamburg