Düsseldorf
Capital of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia
- Area: 217 km2
- Location: on the river Rhine
- Climate: mild winters and moderately warm summers
- Population: 587,346 (as of 2010)
- People: German
- Language: German
- The main religions and beliefs: Christian
- Currency and monetary unit: Euro
- Administrative demarcations: 10 districts, 48 boroughs
DÜSSELDORF - Metropolis on the River Rhine
One city – two rivers.
The Düssel gave the city its name, the Rhine its importance. The former fishing village at the mouth of the idyllic Düssel into the great river Rhine looks back on more than 800 years of eventful history, on counts and prince electors who shaped the beginnings of today’s metropolis. Goethe’s visit left its traces in ‘Poetry and Truth’, Napoleon’s visit the sobriquet ‘Little Paris’. The poet Heinrich Heine praised his native town as being ‘very beautiful’.
And today...
... Düsseldorf International is Germany’s third largest airport. From here, 72 airlines serve 185 destinations worldwide. Düsseldorf can be reached within one hour‘s flying time from all large European capitals.
... Messe Düsseldorf, the trade fair, ishost to 40 international trade fairs every year, of which 23 are leaders in their field worldwide.
... Düsseldorf is a successful combination of the Rhineland’s typical joie de vivre and cosmopolitan charm – combined with a wealth of attractions worth seeing and experiencing. Düsseldorf – a city invites you to discover and experience it.
Rhenish Lifestyle
Düsseldorf – a successful combination of traditions and trends, a city of five seasons: during the ‘foolish season’, i.e. carnival time, the city bubbles over with sheer zest for life. The city pulsates, it is palpable everywhere. Above all in the Old Town, the legendary half square kilometre on the banks of the Rhine with its 260 restaurants and inns, pubs, rustic breweries and cafés, which earned it the name of ‘longest bar in the world’. This is the home of the Alt beer. Nowhere else does this top-brewed beer taste as delicious as at the historic home breweries.
But the Old Town is more than that: quiet lanes with cobblestones, the old palace tower saluting the ships passing by, the twisted tower of St. Lambertus church leaving its spectator puzzled, the splendid old private houses a reminder of past glamour. The Rhine embankment promenade has drawn the city close to the Rhine again, it is an invitation to stroll and relax. The promenade leads all the way to where the city’s creative brains are at home, the MediaHarbour.
A feast for lovers of architecture: ancient railroad lines listed for preservation form an exciting contrast with the glass palaces of the present. Trendy bars, clubs and restaurants complete the ensemble. Night owls are able to choose between noble clubs on the ‘Kö’, dancing the night away at the ultramodern MediaHarbour or in former shop floors in the district of Lierenfeld. ‘Ratinger Straße’ in the Old Town is hip, the whole road one big open-air party in summer. Düsseldorf – an extraordinary metropolis.
Its international flair and the latest trends in the shop windows are not least due to Düsseldorf being the location for the biggest fashion fairs of the world, which attract all the prominent designers. Several times a year, the metropolis on the river Rhine becomes the meeting point of the fashion business, when the doors of the trade fair open for such leading shows as the CPD, HMD or GDS.
Elegant Königsallee is one of a small group of internationally famous shopping streets that truly merit the name ‘boulevard’. Lovingly referred to as ‘Kö’ by Düsseldorfers, it ranks among the ‘dream streets of the world’ with its exclusive shops and luxury malls - next to 5th Avenue, Ginza and Champs-Élysées. The names of the fashion designers who present their creations here read like an extract from the ‘Who’s Who’ of the fashion business. Armani, JOOP, Burberry,Hermès, Kenzo... Discover live the motto of this catwalk, almost 1 km long: ‘See and be seen!’
Fashion, Shopping, Königsallee Schadowstraße, the shopping mile with the state’s highest turnover, the legendary Old Town with its cool boutiques and Carlstadt, with its classicist buildings a treasure trove for lovers of art and antiques, leave almost nothingto be desired.
The numerous shopping malls make shopping a pleasure even on a rainy day. At the Schadow-Arkaden, Sevens, Kö-Galerie and Stilwerk shopping becomes an event.
Art, Culture and Architecure
Düsseldorf is the city of art. At the world-famous academy of art – which emerged from a princely school of painting – internationally renowned artists such as Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter and Jörg Immendorff studied and taught. This is the first stop of the Düsseldorf ‘art axis’, which links a number of big exhibition places throughout the city centre:
The museum kunst palast at the Ehrenhof cultural centre is home to old masters as well as art of the 19th century and the Hentrich glass museum. The NRW Forum für Kultur und Wirtschaft, which presents exhibitions on the subjects of media, photography, architecture, fashion and design, is also integrated into the Ehrenhof complex.
The Kunsthalle Düsseldorf with the Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen organizes changing exhibitions of modern and contemporary art, the K20 Kunstsammlung am Grabbeplatz is one of the leading museums presenting 20th century art, Information whilst the K21 Kunstsammlung im Ständehaus focuses on the future and shows international contemporary art of the 21st century.
Beneath the lively, popular Rhine embankment promenade – in the space between the tunnel sections for motor traffic – the ‘KIT – Kunst im Tunnel’ has become one of the city’s most spectacular exhibition places. In all, there are 25 museums spread all over the city, and in addition to these more than 100 galleries and art rooms.
Actors, directors and authors are able to realize their visions on the city’s big stages. With productions at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (opera), the Tonhalle Düsseldorf and the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus (playhouse), Düsseldorf causes quite a stir. The performances at the boulevard theatres are well known and popular. The Kom(m)mödchen, Germany’s first political cabaret founded by Kay and Lore Lorentz, is legendary. The Capitol musical theatre and Roncalli’s Apollo Varieté enchant their international audience Famous architects left their mark in Düsseldorf.
Art-nouveau artists such as Joseph Maria Olbrich and Peter Behrens created striking buildings in the beginning of the 20th century. The city’s avant-garde mile, as it were, is the Media Harbour, the former industrial harbour area having undergone an exciting change. Where previously silos and storage halls characterized the skyline, there are now buildings designed by internationally renowned architects. Claude Vasconi, Frank Chipperfield and above all Frank O. Gehry with his 3 ‘dancing, slanting towers’ shaped the city’s new image. The harbour owes its special charm to its mixture of ‘old and new’: old quay walls, steps and tracks of the former cargo quay are still in place and under preservation order.
Punctually on November 11 every year, Hoppeditz the jester’s awakening heralds the 5th season – carnival. Around February finally, the three ‘foolish days’ mark its highlight – starting on Thursday with ‘Weiberfastnacht’, when women symbolically storm the town hall to seize power, cutting off men’s ties and kissing them in return. Sunday’s street carnival on the Kö is a warm-up, as it were, to Rosenmontag, carnival Monday with its big parade, the climax of all the foolery. Year after year it attracts millions of visitors to the metropolis on the Rhine, and just as many in front of the TV screens. July belongs to the marksmen festival. One of its main attractions is the historic parade, ranking amongst the biggest in Germany with more than 3,000 uniformed marksmen, brass bands, harnessed horse teams and carriages. During nine days, more than four million visitors flock to the Kirmes, the biggest funfair on the river Rhine: thrills and nostalgia, breathtaking rides and historic merry-gorounds and a gigantic, stunning fireworks display. autumn, the children get ready for the traditional St. Martin festival on November 11th by making their own lanterns and rehearsing the old songs that accompany the splendid lantern processions.
A couple of weeks later, when the Christmas markets are opened, the city is full of atmosphere. The enchanting hustle and bustle of the markets in the glow of thousands of lights covers several squares and streets in the city centre - a small winter tale with individually designed market stalls.
With kind permission of
©Düsseldorf Marketing & Tourismus GmbH 2008
All photographs
©Düsseldorf Marketing & Tourismus GmbH
