Some art treasures in Hanover do not hang in museums or galleries, but can be found on house walls and facades. Graffiti and street art are an integral part of everyday life in Hannover.
Public art has traditionally been a high priority in Lower Saxony's capital. More than 200 sculptures, sculptures and installations enrich the city area. Among them are the world-famous sculptures by the French-American artist Niki De Saint Phalle. The "Red Thread", which guides visitors to 36 sights throughout the city, also runs along her "Nanas".
In Hanover art permeates everyday life. The city and also the citizens support the spread of street art and graffiti in the neighborhoods. Instead of removing them like elsewhere, some homeowners even commission the colorful works of art. They thus enrich the streetscape, are eye-catchers and inspire people anew every day.
This is how you get to Hannover by train: Plan arrival.
For the modern art form, the city of Hanover has specially designed three tour suggestions that lead visitors to the most beautiful, funniest and most impressive graffiti in the city. List, Linden and Nordstadt are explored.
At the List tour we pass the factory gate of the Bahlsen baked goods factory. There, a picture of a giant cookie monster is emblazoned, about to eat the letters of the company's name. Also on display: a golden Leibniz cookie - an allusion to the theft of the golden landmark in January 2013.
A few streets away, on Welfenplatz, sprayers can let off steam. The old air-raid shelter looks correspondingly colorful and wild here: Painted all over with colorful lettering, pictures and comics, the concrete surfaces are now a real eye-catcher. You stop, let it sink in for a while and keep discovering new details.
Graffiti and street art are also very present on the other side of the Leine, in the Linden district. Again and again, pedestrians stop to marvel at the creativity of the artists who shape the district with their works. Be it the portrait of the German-Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt on the facade of her birthplace in Falkenstrasse, or Struckmeyerstrasse, where there is hardly a house without graffiti.
Over a period of two months, street artist Joy Lohmann immortalized Hannover's historical milestones on the façade of a house on Grotestraße: The Kröpcke clock, the founding of Hannover 96, the invention of the Bahlsen cookie or the construction of the old market hall can be found on the approximately 100 square meter mural - history in passing!
Go to the tour of Linden here.
In Nordstadt, the store owners also rely on colorful facades. For example, everyone in Gerhardstraße knows the music store simply because of its colorful facade, which is dominated by a giant trumpet player. At the baby store on Kornstraße, too, it's immediately clear what's inside. Flowers, bees and the sun on the sky-blue house wall provide the ideal eye-catcher. Other artistic works can be found on many other corners in Linden, such as the mysterious man with a hat in Asternstraße or the fantastic underwater world in Kopernikusstraße.
Go to the tour of the northern city here.
With its tolerant approach to graffiti and street art, Hannover proves how much these art forms can enrich a city. If they are allowed, works of lasting value are created that appeal to many people and lend a special flair to entire streetscapes. Hanover's murals make the city more colorful and exciting - and thus a little more attractive for a visit.
Cover photo: Graffiti artists are also allowed to live out their creativity in the Calenberger Neustadt district © Christian Wyrwa
