Altona, Hamburg surrounding cities) with the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg in 1938. On 1 February 2007 the "Ortsämter" (precincts) in Hamburg were dissolved. In Altona the precincts of Blankenese, Lurup and Osdorf had existed and had local offices. On 1 March 2008 the Schanzenviertel neighborhood, which had spanned across parts of the boroughs of Altona, Eimsbüttel and Hamburg-Mitte, became the Sternschanze quarter, the entirety of which is now in the Altona borough. The border of Altona to the south is the River Elbe, and across the river the state Lower Saxony and the boroughs Harburg and Hamburg-Mitte. To the east
University of Hamburg of Associated Institutes ("An-Institute") stand in liaison with the university, among them the Hans-Bredow-Institut for Media Research and the Heinrich Pette Institute - Leibniz Institute for Experimental Virology. Further institutions include: The University of Hamburg oversees three museums: the , the Mineralogical Museum Hamburg and the Museum of Geology and Paleontology Hamburg. All of them are located on the central campus grounds. It is also one of the two founding members of the China-EU School of Law in China, which contains 16 member institutions for providing mid-career training, master's degree and joint doctoral research in China-European Law. University of Hamburg