The Green Bunker of Hamburg: From WWII Relic to Urban Oasis

At present, a massive Wehrmacht bunker from the Second World War seems to be stealing the show from the elegant Elbphilharmonie concert hall in Hamburg: Raised by five storeys and planted with over 23,000 trees and shrubs, the gray memorial to megalomania and destruction reaches for the clouds and transforms itself into an almost surreal piece of urban nature.

High up on the "mountain path"

Hamburg residents and visitors are delighted and climb the "Bergpfad" - a 550-metre-long panoramic staircase - to a roof garden at lofty heights, which repeatedly reveals surprising new lines of sight of the whole of Hamburg between apple trees and mountain pines. He was inspired by the High Line in New York, where an old elevated railway viaduct was transformed into a green footpath.

The floors below are not without surprises either: The four octagonal towers that border the bunker now house the reception of the "Reverb by Hard Rock Hotel" as well as a Hard Rock Shop, the "Karo & Paul Bar" and the "Constant Grind Coffee Shop" - exactly where heavy anti-aircraft guns took Allied aircraft bombers out of the sky during the Second World War.

Spend the night in the bunker

The hotel with 134 rooms is stylistically based on the surroundings of Feldstraße. This is where one of the largest high-rise bunkers ever built was erected for all eternity by 2,600 concentration camp prisoners and forced laborers in just 300 days in 1942/1943 at Heiligengeistfeld. The districts of St. Pauli with the famous Millerntor stadium of FC St. Pauli and the Reeperbahn as well as the Schanzenviertel and Karoviertel are adjacent here.

The former Hamburg slaughterhouse, around which a colorful and creative alternative scene has developed in recent decades, is practically on the doorstep: a popular nightlife district that will also attract hotel guests.
They make do with relatively small, dark rooms, many of which are equipped with a French balcony from which you can see Hamburg's harbor, the Michel and the Elbphilharmonie concert hall. Alternatively, you can also choose one of the twelve suites.

"Hamburg's living room"

La Sala serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. The restaurant is located on the 5th floor of the raised part of the bunker, where up to 30,000 people once sought shelter from the bombs. The sharing concept brings bowls and dishes to the table in the "living room", which are mainly filled with vegetables in colorful variations.

Even though the fish and meat dishes are declared as side dishes on the menu, they are no less delicious and the portions are not too small. The cuisine mixes Mediterranean, Asian and American influences to create a modern, uncomplicated tastegood cuisine.

The vision of the green bunker

Incidentally, the green bunker is the realization of the dream of a private individual from Hamburg who stuck to his idea with perseverance and foresight. Even though he now has a falling out with the investor, who, according to his own statements, invested around 100 million euros in the project, and has himself been banned from the building: The vision of the globally unique, miraculous transformation of a dreary, unblowable war memorial into a new Hamburg attraction for everyone even manages to put the Elbphilharmonie in the shade a little.

Tourist attraction

Since its opening at the beginning of July, the "mountain trail" around the bunker and the public park on the roof have been a major crowd puller. A turnstile at the entrance monitors the maximum number of visitors permitted.
The sports and concert hall inside, which the city of Hamburg had insisted on, will soon also be used.
And the former anti-aircraft ammunition depot, which rises up flat next to the entrance to the hotel with its rough, thick walls, will also have been transformed into a memorial site.

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