Current Time in Eimsbüttel, Germany

Eimsbuttel is one of the seven boroughs of Hamburg, the great port city of northern Germany, and also the name of the lively residential quarter at its core. It occupies the north western part of the city, stretching from the Alster lakes and the university district outwards through dense nineteenth century streets to leafier suburbs and open country at the edge of the built up area. Canals, tree lined avenues and small green squares run through it, and the centre of Hamburg is only a short ride away.

The borough has around two hundred and seventy thousand residents, which makes it one of the most populous parts of the city. Its significance is residential, academic and cultural rather than industrial. Eimsbuttel consistently ranks among the most desirable places to live in Hamburg, popular with families, students and young professionals, and it contains institutions of national importance including the main campus of the University of Hamburg.

The name comes from a medieval settlement belonging to a man called Eimo, and for centuries this was farmland outside the city gates. Growth arrived with industrialisation in the late nineteenth century, when rows of five storey apartment blocks with decorated facades were built to house a rapidly expanding population, and the area was incorporated into Hamburg in 1894. The Grindel quarter became the heart of Jewish life in the city, with a great synagogue and a renowned school, until the community was destroyed under National Socialism, a history now marked by memorials and brass plaques set into the pavement. Bombing in 1943 devastated parts of the borough, and the post war Grindel high rise blocks were among the first of their kind in Germany.

The main attraction for visitors is Hagenbeck zoo in Stellingen, opened in 1907 and revolutionary in its day for replacing cages with moats and artificial rocks so that animals appeared in open landscapes, an idea soon copied by zoos around the world. The Isemarkt, held twice weekly beneath the elevated railway viaduct, is one of the longest open air markets in Europe and a genuine local institution. The museum of world cultures, the planetarium just beyond the borough boundary and the elegant villas along the Alster are all within easy reach.

Everyday life centres on Osterstrasse and the surrounding streets, with cafes, bookshops, bakeries and small independent businesses, and on the canal banks where people gather on summer evenings. Sports clubs, swimming pools, theatres and a strong tradition of neighbourhood festivals add to the atmosphere.

Two underground lines and several suburban railway stations serve the borough, along with an extensive bus network and excellent cycle routes, so a car is rarely necessary. The University of Hamburg, with more than forty thousand students, together with research institutes and a large university hospital nearby, gives the area a distinctly academic character.

Eimsbuttel shows Hamburg at its most liveable, a green, sociable and well connected part of the city that appeals to residents and visitors alike.