Kröpcke

Kröpcke is the central square of the city of Hanover in Germany. The square is situated at the five-way crossroads of Georgstraße, and Karmarschstraße, Bahnhofstraße and Rathenaustraße. It is named after Wilhelm Kröpcke who started working at Café Robby, that had relocated to the then-nameless square in 1869, as a waiter in 1878, before leasing the café in 1885, changing its name to Café Kröpcke in 1895, and operating it until his death in 1919. Eventually, the square adopted the name from the café and in 1947 was officially named Kröpcke by the city of Hanover. One of its most notable features is the Kröpcke clock, a 1977 reconstruction of a meteorological column erected in 1885 in front of the then Café Robby. This column was damaged by an air raid in 1943, but its clock was repaired in 1945 after the end of World War II in Europe. In 1954, the meteorological column was removed and replaced the following year with a contemporary clock. This in turn was replaced in 1977 with a simplified reconstruction of the historical meteorological column that features a clock and, instead of meteorological instruments, a display case for art exhibitions and presentations.

Square data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).