A few words about Hannover

Hannover is a town situated in the province of Lower Saxony, Federal Republic of Germany. Counting about 600 000 inhabitants, it is among the average sized towns in Germany.
The town was founded in medieval ages on the bank of the river Leine (the original name Honovere can be translated as "high bank"). It was a small village of fishermen and ferrymen, which became a comparatively large town in the 13th century. In the 14th century, the main churches Kreuzkirche (Church of the Holy Cross) and Marktkirche (church at the market square) were built, as well as a city wall with three town gates to ensure security of the city.
In 1636 the Duke of Calenberg moved his residence to hannover. His duchy became afterwards known as the Duchy of hannover.
Calenberg's descendants would later become kings of England; the first of them, George I, ascended to the British throne in 1714. Three English kings were at the same time Electoral Princes of hannover.
At the Congress of Vienna in 1814, King George III elevated the Electorate to Kingdom of hannover. The capital town hannover expanded considerably, reaching the western bank of the Leine.
In 1837 the personal union between the United Kingdom and hannover finished as William IV's heir in the United Kingdom was female, while hannover could be inherited only by males. It continued its existence as a kingdom until 1866, when it was annexed by the Prussian King. The people of hannover opposed the Prussian annexation. Nevertheless, the growth of hannover continued till World War II, when two thirds of the town was devastated. After the war, it was in the British zone of occupation, and later became famous for hosting commercial expositions such as hannover Fair and the CeBIT. In 2000, hannover hosted the Expo 2000.
The town offers numerous historic sights, among which the most notable are the mentioned Kreuzkirche and Marktkirche, the Old Town Hall, as well as the Aegidienkirche church, which, built in the 14 century and destroyed in 1943, is today a memorial to the victims of war and violence.
Central places in Hannover are Kroepcke square, a favourite meeting place for young people, Market Square, the oldest square in the town, and the modern Ballhof Square. After the town was almost completely destroyed in World War II, some remaining buildings, but mainly facades, examples of pre-war architecture, have been rebuilt and accumulated in what is now called The Old Town.
Well worth visiting is the Leineschloss Castle, former residence of the hannoverian Kings. Built in the 12th century as a Fransiscan monastery, in 1533, after the Protestant Reformation, it was abandonned. In the early 17 century George Duke of Brunswick-Lueneburg, chose it as his residence. During the Second World War, the Leineschloss burnt out fully as a result of British aerial bombings. The architect Dieter Oesterlen re-built it between 1957 and 1962 and now it is a seat of the Lower Saxon Landtag.
Special interest to businessmen would for sure present the Hannover Fair. One of the biggest industrial fairs, it is held each spring. The fair commenced in 1947 by an arrangement of the British occupation government, in order to test the economical advancement in post-war Germany.
Nowadays, the hannover Fair centers robotics. Usually about 6000 exhibitors and 200,000 visitors attend it yearly.
In the 1980s, growing information and telecommunication industry forced the organisers to split the fair, creating a separate fair for this sectors, the so called CeBIT Expo. It is the biggest and most important computer expo in the world and takes place also in the spring. A barometer of information technology and science, it welcomes yearly 700 000 visitors.