The New Town Hall (German: Neues Rathaus) in Hanover, Germany, is a city hall and was opened on July 20, 1913, after having been under construction for 12 years. It is a magnificent, castle-like building of the era of Wilhelm II in eclectic style at the southern edge of the inner city (outside of the historic city centre of Hanover). The building is embedded in the 10-hectare (25-acre) Maschpark. The Old Town Hall is no longer used as the main seat of administration, but houses businesses and the registry office.
In its day, the building cost 10 million Marks. It was erected on 6026 beech piles by the architects, Hermann Eggert and Gustav Halmhuber. “Ten million Marks, Your Majesty – and all paid for in cash”, announced the City Director, Heinrich Tramm, when the New Town Hall was opened by Emperor Wilhelm II. The square in front of the City Hall was named Trammplatz in honour of Tramm. The New Town Hall replaced the Wangenheimpalais as the city hall from then on.
During World War II, the building was heavily damaged during American bomb raids on the inner city of Hanover. The German state of Lower Saxony was proclaimed in 1946 in the 38 m (125 ft) high hall of the New Town Hall.
The dome of the New Town Hall, with its observation platform, is 97.73 m (320.6 ft) high. The dome’s lift is unique in Europe, with its arched course (parabolic, following the shape of the dome). It is often incorrectly described as a sloping lift up the dome and compared with the lifts in the Eiffel Tower, which actually only travel diagonally, without changing their angle of inclination. The lift climbs the 50 m (160 ft) shaft at an angle of up to 17° to the gallery of the dome, where the Harz mountain range can be seen when visibility is good. In the process, the lift moves over 10 m (33 ft). During the trip, the two weight-bearing cables wind up on three double rolls in the wall of the shaft.
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