After entering the park through the Holstentor, the path leads straight to one of history's most distinctive fairground rides. Only a few steps down is a classic horse carousel in a brightly colored design ready for young and old. The Italian company Bertazzon was awarded the contract for the construction of a classic carousel with movable horses, but also with two rotors and a rocking bench. The original Venice design has been replaced by specially made Hanseatic League motifs and has a diameter of 10.5 meters and a height of almost 8 meters.
The first carousel, reported in writing, dates back to the period of the Hanseatic League, but was in the Ottoman Empire, recorded in the diary of the Englishman Peter Mundy in 1620. He wrote of a large cartwheel on whose outside small seats were mounted on where children could sit down. The cartwheel was then set in motion by men power in the horizontal direction of rotation. In the Middle Ages, carousels were used to assist knights in their exercises by making rings with their lance along the direction of rotation. In 1863, the first motorized carousel in Bolton, England was put into operation by means of a steam engine and in 1880 the carousel horses received their typical up and down movements for the first time.
Until 2017, the operators of the HANSE Carousel still had to defy wind and weather. Now the carousel has been accompanied by a stylish operator's house which not only provides protection, but is also very nice to look at.
