Art freaks could spend many days exploring the collections in Hannover’s art galleries and museums. Those who prefer to spend fine days out of doors will find works of art wherever they go in the city. Hannover launched its programme of street art in the early 1970s; the programme attracted widespread attention, and the results have been added to over the years. Niki de Saint Phalle’s Nanas may have become a landmark and symbol of the city; but there are other works too that are undoubtedly worth seeing, including Calder’s “Halberdier” by the Maschsee Lake and the works by Henry Moore (Stadtpark), Joseph Kosuth (Museum of History) and Tadashi Kawamata (Canal). Being the birthplace of Kurt Schwitters, Hannover has a particular relationship with this Dadaist artist. A replica of his “Merzbau”, a bizarre and fantastically ornamented spatial sculpture, can be seen in the Sprengel Museum. This museum’s treasures of 20th century art by artists such as Picasso, Nolde, Léger, Beckmann and Klee have set European standards. Modern art also has forums at the Kestner Gesellschaft and the Kunstverein (Arts Association).
The neo-renaissance building of the Lower Saxony State Museum (Niedersächsisches Landesmuseum) houses a museum of many parts: prehistory, natural history, ethnology, the State Art Gallery and an aquarium all under one roof. The “bog mummy” and the dinosaurs are particular favourites with children.
A third museum nearby, forming a triangle on the map with the two already mentioned, is the Kestner Museum (not to be confused with the Kestner Gesellschaft) alongside the Town Hall. Here exhibitions relating to ancient Egypt and other ancient cultures are shown. The Museum of History (Historisches Museum) in the Old Town is a mine of information on the history of the state and the city. And there are a series of smaller museums with special fields of their own: for example an aviation museum (Luftfahrtmuseum), a tramway museum (Strassenbahnmuseum) and a theatre museum (Theatermuseum).