Schmap Dusseldorf Historical Background

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Dusseldorf - Historical Background
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Dusseldorf Home
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Dusseldorf's development from an insignificant farming settlement on the banks of the Düssel into a lively cosmopolitan metropolis bursting with culture, fashion, media, and shopping is an outstanding success story.

Germanic Tribes and Barbarossa

At the time when Roman civilisation was making itself felt through the rapid construction of roads and buildings, only a few Germanic tribes stubbornly clung on to their marshy territory on the other side of the Rhine, where the city was later to spring up. In the Frankish period of the 7th and 8th centuries, the odd farming or fishing settlement could be found at the point where the small river Düssel flows into the Rhine. The first written mention of the town dates back to 1135. Under Kaiser Friedrich Barbarossa the little town of Kaiserswerth, lying at the northern edge of Dusseldorf, became a well fortified outpost of the Empire. From the Palace of Barbarossa, a heavily fortified castle built between 1174 and 1184, soldiers kept a watchful eye on every movement over the Rhine. Kaiserswerth was made into an official district of Dusseldorf in 1929.

The Right to Call Itself a City

August 14th, 1288 is an important date in the annals of Dusseldorf. On this day the sovereign, Count Adolf V von Berg, granted the village on the banks of the Düssel the right to call itself a city. Prior to that a bloody power struggle between the powerful Archbishop of Cologne and the Berg nobility had taken place, culminating in the battle of Worringen. Enemy forces wiped out the army of Cologne on 5 June 1288 and dashed the Archbishop's ambitions. The Stadterhebungsmonument (monument celebrating Dusseldorf's elevation to city status) on the Burgplatz serves as a reminder of this epic event.

A market square subsequently sprang up right on the banks of the Rhine over an area of land no larger than four hectares. This square was protected by city walls on each side. In 1380 Dusseldorf was named regional capital of the Duchy of Berg. Building works proceeded at a fast pace. The collegiate church of St. Lambertus dates back to this period of rapid expansion. The pace of development accelerated further when Duke Wilhelm consolidated the status of the youthful capital (which then presided over the Duchies of Jülich, Kleve and Berg as well as the Earldoms of Mark and Ravensburg) by building an imposing castle in the 16th century. The excellently preserved town hall was built in 1573 in the style of the Lower Rhine Renaissance.

The Legacy of Elector Jan Wellem

Dusseldorf's growth was rampant under the new Pfalz-Neuburger Regent. Elector Johann Wilhelm II, affectionately known to his people as Jan Wellem, was particularly notable for his services to the city. This old rake and art lover married a Medici daughter and designed a vast gallery with an astonishing selection of paintings and sculptures, even by contemporary standards (including works by Rubens and Rembrandt). This gallery is housed in the Stadtschloss. Jan Wellem also did much for the growth of Dusseldorf's trade and infrastructure.

After the death of the childless Jan Wellem, however, the hitherto flourishing royal capital saw a reversal of its fortunes. Under his successors, who tended to avoid living in the city itself, Elector Carl Theodor (1742-1799) eventually decided to move his court to Munich for good; Dusseldorf lost its former dynamism. The Seven-Year War and the Napoleonic Wars (during which the city was occupied and the fort razed to the ground) sowed destruction and poverty. Even Prussia's acquisition of Dusseldorf at the Vienna Congress of 1815 failed to arrest the decline. Nevertheless, Dusseldorf's decay into a provincial backwater was in some ways a blessing in disguise. The razing of the fort had endowed the city with a large amount of unused space. The architect Maximilian Weyhe designed the expansive Hofgarten, a splendid landscaped garden in English style. He also designed the adjacent Königsallee, a magnificent boulevard which runs parallel to the river Düssel.

Entering Modernity

In the early 19th century, at the Kunstakademie, Wilhelm von Schadow presided over the development of the Dusseldorf School, whose paintings soon gained a worldwide reputation. Eminent figures like Goethe and Diderot frequented the Malkasten, which was the seat of this group of artists.

By the mid-19th century the Industrial Revolution had left an indelible mark on the city's infrastructure and propelled its population statistics to new records: in 1882 Dusseldorf had over 100,000 inhabitants, and this figure doubled by 1892. Dusseldorf was becoming a large modern city. Two bridges, the Hammer and the Oberkasseler Brücke, were key in furthering the city's growth on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gründerjahre (founder years) brought a new dynamism and sense of excitement as the city developed into an industrial and administrative metropolis.

The Catastrophe of the Early 20th Century

However, the First World War and the Great Depression provided a sobering check to this new-found optimism. The Nazi period plunged Dusseldorf into a catastrophe. During World War II the city was transformed into a heap of rubble. Round-the-clock air attacks and a seven week-long bombardment in the spring of 1945 destroyed about half of the residential and industrial areas, claiming many civilian casualties in the process. 370,000 civilians were left in this desert of ruins by the end of the War (as compared with 540,000 in 1939). The Jewish community was decimated through deportation and murder (only 249 survived out of a pre-War population of 5,100). The Mahn- und Gedenkstätte für die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus (Memorial to the Victims of National Socialism), located on Mühlenstraße, provides a grizzly account of the darkest chapter in Dusseldorf's history.

The British occupation of the Rhineland and Westfalia turned out to be a piece of good luck for the city. In 1946 the British named Dusseldorf capital of the newly created county of Nordrhein-Westfalia.

The Economic Miracle

The city's reconstruction proceeded at breakneck pace. The economic miracle transformed Dusseldorf into a metropolis of trade, administration and service industries, thereby giving it a new lease of life which nobody could have dreamed of in 1945. New buildings spring up everywhere, and international companies set up their businesses here. The ongoing success of the Messe (trade fair) and the continuing attraction of Dusseldorf to international companies makes for a high standard of living and a cosmopolitan feel. Although Dusseldorf's population of 570,000 (another 200,000 live in the commuter belt) certainly does not make it a metropolis of the size of, say, Hamburg or Munich, the range of possibilities in terms of culture, shopping, dining and nightlife can match anything offered by bigger cities, without the accompanying drawbacks. Come and see for yourself!

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Burgplatz

Atmospheric square

Burgplatz
Altstadt
Dusseldorf, NRW 40213
Germany

Dominated by the historic Schlossturm tower, this busy square in the heart of the old town is filled with restaurants and cafés. Sitting here, watching the locals chat, visitors could be mistaken for thinking that they are in Tuscany or Umbria. Located next to the Rhine, Burgplatz makes the ideal starting point for a stroll along the promenade.

Review © 2007, Wcities

Photo: CendaX

Photo: Davina Gifford

Photo: Rina Rudyanto

Photo: keshkau

Photo: Felix Flemming

Photo: Dan

Photo: Mareike Kuhn

Church of St. Lambertus

The leaning tower of Dusseldorf Stiftsplatz
Altstadt
Dusseldorf, NRW 40213
Germany
+49 211 13 2326 One of Dusseldorf's most visible landmarks is St. Lambert's Church, a Romanesque construction which boasts a leaning tower to rival that of Pisa. While countless legends have been invented to explain this phenomenon, the most plausible was given by the sexton: the wood was still damp when the tower was erected, so when it dried it expanded and made the tower lean. Originally built in the 13th century, the church was reconstructed in 1394 and has changed little since. St. Lambert's also contains a host of religious relics including the bones of St. Apollinaris, the patron saint of Dusseldorf.

Review © 2007, Wcities

Photo: yuls_vs
Photo: tatulund
Photo: Rene Jakobson
Photo: Michael

City Museum

Museum of local history Bergerallee 2
Karlstadt
Dusseldorf, NRW 40213
Germany
+49 211 899 6170 The oldest museum in the city, the Stadtmuseum contains a fascinating exhibition about the history of Dusseldorf from the Stone Age to the present day. The main focus is on the rise of the city as an industrial and financial center, but there are also good sections dealing with the Jülich-Kleve-Berg era (14-16th century), the art scene in the Weimar Republic, the effect of the Nazi era and the city today. The exhibition deals with all the city's many facets, including a fashion show featuring clothes from the last three centuries.

Review © 2007, Wcities

Court Garden

Royal park in the city centre Heinrich-Heine-Allee
Innenstadt
Dusseldorf, NRW 40212
Germany
Without doubt the biggest and most beautiful inner-city park, the Hofgarten was originally designed in the 16th century as a pleasure garden for the royal family. The garden was allowed to fall into ruin by successive rulers but was rebuilt by Prince Karl Theodor in 1769, partly in order to create jobs for the local populace. Although it was destroyed during the French occupation of the city in the early 19th century, Napoleon immediately gave orders for it to be rebuilt. The result was the typical English landscape garden which visitors can still admire today. The park contains numerous statues and sculptures and is popular with joggers and sunbathers.

Review © 2007, Wcities

Court Garden photo by wcities
Photo: wcities

Königsallee

Designer boulevard Königsallee
Dusseldorf, NRW 40212
Germany
When it was built in 1804, the 'Kö', as it is affectionately known to locals, was situated in a slightly run-down area on the edge of the city. As Dusseldorf grew, the street became more central and things really took off after a face-lift at the start of the 20th century. An underground station was opened, the pavements were widened and the street lamps, kiosks and telephone boxes were restored. Nowadays the boulevard is Dusseldorf's number one shopping street and has enhanced the city's reputation as being one of Europe's major fashion centres, but has also lent it a reputation for being somewhat snobbish.

Review © 2007, Wcities

Photo: stanislav.smirnov
Photo: Nacho Cabanes
Photo: Bonnyboy
Photo: Jacob Lehrbaum
Photo: Angloteuton
Photo: Douglas Martin
Photo: Peter W.O. Schubert
Photo: Coen Meerbeek

Photo: Grace Padilla
Photo: Diederik van de Scheur
Photo: David M. Meurer

Malkasten

Upmarket restaurant, club and beer garden Jakobistraße 6
Pempelfort
Dusseldorf, NRW 40237
Germany
+49 211 173 040
http://www.malkasten.net Malkasten consists of a funky nightclub, beer garden and spacious restaurant with views of the park. The clientele is mainly well-off, well-dressed and good looking. The prices are naturally, considering the clientele, quite high, although with this in mind one would expect better service. You will need to dress up to make sure you get by the doormen.

Review © 2007, Wcities

Photo: Christian Stelzmann

Oberkassel Bridge

Oberkassel bridge Düsseldorfer Straße
Dusseldorf, NRW
Germany
When the original Oberkassel bridge was destroyed during World War II, a temporary bridge was immediately built in its place. After the war, the decision was made to erect a completely new bridge, but it was impossible to pull the temporary bridge down first because of its immense importance to the Rhineland's transport system. With this in mind, the new bridge was built parallel to the old one, and was then used while the old bridge was dismantled. In April 1976, in front of tens of thousands of onlookers, the 12,000-tonne bridge was moved 50m downstream to the spot where the first bridge originally stood.

Review © 2007, Wcities

Photo: Claudia Dal Ceredo
Photo: Andreas Reinhold
Photo: Michael M.
Photo: Alexander Schmacks
Photo: Gregor Oertel

Town Hall

Town hall Marktplatz 1
(Altstadt)
Dusseldorf, NRW 40213
Germany
+49 211 8991 Built in 1573, the Town Hall still looks much the same as the day it was erected. Situated on Marktplatz, in the heart of the old town, the building is part of a larger complex which includes the Grupello House and other administrative buildings. The Statue of Prince Jan Wellem on Horseback overlooks the entire scene.

Review © 2007, Wcities

Photo: Jason smart
Photo: German Vidal
Photo: Mohd Fadly
Photo: garrybennett

Warning and Remembrance Monument

Memorial to the victims of Nazism Mühlenstraße 29
Altstadt
Dusseldorf, NRW 40213
Germany
+49 211 899 6205
http://www.ns-gedenkstaetten.d... Founded in 1987, this memorial documents the persecution of Jews, communists and gypsies in Dusseldorf during the Nazi era. The building in the old town used to be a prison for political prisoners before being taken over by the German Army in 1934. As well as hosting temoprary exhibitions on a variety of topics, the memorial contains a permanent exhibition entitled Persecution and Resistance in Düsseldorf, 1933-45.

Review © 2007, Wcities

Warning and Remembrance Monument photo by wcities
Photo: wcities

Other Schmapplets in this city related to "Dusseldorf - Historical Background"
Dusseldorf
Dusseldorf - Neighborhood Guide
Dusseldorf - Where to Stay
Dusseldorf - Dining & Drinking
Dusseldorf - Art & Entertainment
Other nearby cities:
Cologne (35 miles)
Bonn (61 miles)
Antwerp (164 miles)
Brussels (172 miles)
Amsterdam (182 miles)
Frankfurt (184 miles)
Hamburg (340 miles)
Paris (415 miles)
London (469 miles)
Berlin (477 miles)

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