View of the Königsallee's eastern side across the canal
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Former name(s) | Neue Allee, Mittelallee, Kastanienallee |
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Length | 3,280 ft (1,000 m) |
Location | Stadtmitte, Düsseldorf, Germany |
Nearest metro station | Steinstraße/Königsallee |
North end | Elberfelder Straße |
Major junctions |
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South end | Luisenstraße |
Construction | |
Inauguration | 1804 |
Other | |
Designer | Caspar Anton Huschberger |
The Königsallee (German pronunciation: [ˈkøːnɪçˌsaleː], literally "King's Avenue") is an urban boulevard in Düsseldorf, state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The Königsallee is noted for both the landscaped canal that runs along its center, as well as for the fashion showrooms and luxury retail stores located along its sides.
Nicknamed Kö by the locals, the Königsallee is by far Germany's busiest, upscale shopping street.
The Königsallee is some 1 km long and lies in the district of Stadtmitte. It stretches from Hofgarten, Düsseldorf's main park, to Carl-Theodor-Straße and Luisenstraße on its Southern end. At Hofgarten, the Königsallee reaches onto Landskrone, a peninsula of the park's lake. Adjacent to Königsallee are the Altstadt, Düsseldorf's old quarter, and Schadowstraße, Germany's shopping street with the highest sales revenues.
The canal is some 31 m wide and fed by water from the Düssel, from which the city got its name. The entire boulevard is some 80 metres (260 ft) wide and may be perceived as an urban esplanade. The Eastern side of Königsallee is entirely commercial, with numerous upmarket flagship stores and block-internal shopping arcades leading to and from the boulevard. Most of the Western side is quieter, given that it predominantly has offices, bank branches and hotels. Cafés and restaurants are located on both sides.
By the end of the 18th century, Düsseldorf was a small Baroque town and capital of the Grand Duchy of Berg. Following the Treaty of Lunéville, the Duke was to have Düsseldorf's fortifications removed, which turned out to give room for a more generous urban plan. This plan included a Classicism esplanade, designed by architect to the court Caspar Anton Huschberger, in co-operation with landscape architect Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe and hydraulic engineer Wilhelm Gottlieb Bauer.