Communicator

COMMUNICATOR 37 26. …is an extremely musical place? Since the end of 2014 it has held the title UNESCO City of Music. 27. …pipes music through (of all things) a manhole cover in front of the Central Sta- tion? Program available at www.gullyman.eu. 28. …will really get into the swing of things with its Ascension Day open-air jazz festival on Trammplatz square? It regularly attracts an audience of about 35,000 who come to get the groove and feel the funk. 29. …treasures artist Niki de Saint-Phalle? She created the "Nana" sculptures on the banks of the Leine, redesigned and decorated the three rooms of the grotto in Herrenhau- sen and left many of her works to the Spren- gel Museum. 30. …has its own "backyard hills"? The Deister range – reaching 405 metres – is a great place for hiking, mountain biking or just taking a stroll. 3 1 . …boasts its very own sea? Lake Steinhude (the German literally means "Steinhude Sea") lures visitors with a bathing island, the historic "Barn District" in Steinhude, a paradise for climbers on its northern shore, and trips to the island of Wilhelmstein on the traditional Auswan- derer boats. 32. …calls Marienburg Castle the "Neu- schwanstein of the North"? This magnificent former residence of the House of Guelph 30 km south of the city is truly a fairytale edifice and, on a tour through its rooms, visitors can enjoy splendid views of the river Leine. 33. …is very much a "medical city," with almost 65,000 people (one-seventh of the region's working population) employed in around 3,600 health-care institutions and companies. 34. …not only has a zoo but also a Deer Park ("Tiergarten")? Here, free of charge, close encounters can be had not only with fallow and roe deer, but also wild boar. 35. …is extremely popular with students and researchers (of which it has 40,000 and 10,000 respectively)? Of the eight higher- education establishments, the best known are Leibniz University, Hannover Medical School and the University of Veterinary Medicine. 36. …has four of the world's most cited researchers? Three of them teach at Han- nover Medical School. 37. …is home to world-famous rock band The Scorpions? Vocalist Klaus Meine says of Hannover: "You rock like a hurricane." 38. ...last year honoured its inventor of binary arithmetic (which involves the two digits 0 and 1, i.e. the basis for present-day computers)? This year marks the 300th anni- versary of the death of universal genius Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. 39. …has 117 geographical namesakes throughout the world? In many cases, these places, rivers and bays are spelt with only one "n" (Hanover). 40. …has unusual inclinations? A "tilting" lift – the only one of its kind worldwide – takes visitors to the dome of the New Town Hall, with the observation point offering them views as far as the Deister hills. 4 1 . …has, as of 2013, its own palace once more? Situated in the Herrenhausen Gar- dens, it houses both a museum and a confer- ence centre. 42. …attracts some 600,000 visitors to "Sophie's World" every year? Not the book, but the Herrenhausen Gardens created by Electress Sophie. The mother of the first king of Great Britain from the House of Hanover, she is remembered affectionately to this day. 43. …leads its visitors in a merry dance? The ballet at the State Opera House is world- class, and other highlights are innovative dance theatre, the TanzTheater International festival and the Easter Dance Festival. 44. …has a building shaped like a brain? Neurosurgeon Madjid Samii runs the Inter- national Neuroscience Institute, visited by VIPs from all over the world. In Tehran, a five-storey museum is being built to honour the life's work of this Iranian-born specialist. COMMUNICATOR 37 left ©Christian Wyrwa; top, top right ©Hannover Marketing & Tourism GmbH; centre ©Carlos Delgado; bottom ©ChristianSchd

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