This exhibition area focuses on cultural life in Hamburg from the 17th century until today. Elegant garments and accessories of wealthy Hamburg citizens from the 18th and 19th centuries as well as the colourful fashion of the 20th illustrate the changing fashion trends and social Zeitgeist in Hamburg.

During the 17th and 18th century, Hamburg was the centre of music and theatre in northern Germany. The city was home to many instrument makers and Germany‘s first public opera house. The people of Hamburg were able to listen to the leading composers of their time. Exhibits on the city’s theatres, paintings of Hamburg personalities, unique objects like the harpsichord by Carl Conrad Fleischer dating from 1716 and the world’s oldest preserved trombone of 1587 illustrate this part of Hamburg’s cultural history.

You can also see one of the most prestigious museum exhibits - the model of the Temple of Solomon. Made largely of wood, the model shows the first temple erected under King Solomon (ca. 965 – 926 BC) which was the most important sanctuary of the Jews in Jerusalem and already destroyed during antiquity.