Description

In the days before the Second World War there was a large old town in the centre of Hanover with narrow lanes and many half-timbered buildings from the Middle Ages. A lot of poor people lived there in bad conditions. Ordinary Hanoverians stayed away from the old town because they also considered it a place of crime and demimonde. The historic value of the picturesque old buildings interested but a few.

Hannover's old town extended from Steintor to Aegidientorplatz and is today only recognizable by its elliptical shape. The old main streets like Osterstraße, Schmiedestraße, Knochenhauerstraße, Burgstraße, Leinestraße and others are linked by numerous lanes and join again at the old gates as was common in German merchants' settlements in the Middle Ages.

After the bombing raids of the Second World War there was almost nothing left of Hannover's old town. Forty old half-timbered buildings remained, twelve thereof in Knochenhauerstraße, Kramerstraße and Burgstraße. During the rebuilding of Hanover, parts of the old buildings, mainly the facades, were transferred and concentrated in this area. So today they form a 'new old town' in Hannover's oldest part.