An excellent way to get your bearings in Hanover is to visit the Neues Rathaus (built 1901–13) and ascend 98m in the curved elevator (the only one of its kind). It's shaped to travel to the top of the building's green dome, where there are four open-air observation platforms offering panoramic views as far as the Deister hills. The cabin can take only five people at a time so expect queues.

　　In the grand marble lobby downstairs, four city models depict Hanover from the Middle Ages to today; the sombre 1945 model shows the extent of the damage done by Allied bombing in WWII.