St. Nicholas Church, Hamburg

The ruined tower of St. Nicholas Church on Hopfenmarkt is one of Germany's most arresting war memorials, its skeletal neo-Gothic shell left deliberately unrestored since World War II. Designed by English architect George Gilbert Scott and built from 1846, the 147-metre tower briefly held the record as the world's tallest structure between 1874 and 1876. On the night of 28 July 1943, Operation Gomorrah — the RAF's firebombing of Hamburg — gutted the nave and interior entirely, leaving only the tower standing. For decades the ruins were contested symbols in the competing memory politics of East and West Germany; the official memorial dedication came only in 1995. A glass elevator now carries visitors to 76 metres, offering an unusual vantage over Hamburg's Altstadt and harbour, while a permanent basement exhibition documents the bombing campaign and its devastating toll on the city's civilian population.