Interactive city tour through the Hamburg of the year 1686
International research project brings five European cities from the early modern period to the present day to life
How was the public space in European cities used in the years from 1450 to 1700? What happened in small streets and large squares, which buildings were important and why? How did normal inhabitants shape the life of a city? And what does all this have to do with us today? These are the questions that the international research project “PUblic REnaissance: Urban Cultures of Public Space between Early Modern Europe and the Present” (PURE), which is being funded with one million euros, is pursuing. The German partner is FAU, which researches early modern Hamburg and has developed, among other things, an app and a website with an interactive city tour through the year 1686.
“Moin, Moin, my name is Johann and I am a paper merchant from Hamburg” – this is what the fictitious person says in an app that takes you through the Hamburg of the year 1686. The inventors of “Johann” and his tour through the city are Prof. Dr. Daniel Bellingradt, assistant professor of book science, especially historical communication research at FAU, and his research assistant Claudia Heise. The FAU team developed an approximately one-hour free city tour – available in German and English – through the Hamburg of the year 1686. “Johann” leads to known and less known places of his Hamburg in a hunt for news. A lot had happened in Hamburg in 1686. Read more…