A Walk Through History and Modern Highlife
At 3.5 km, the Kufürstendamm boulevard is one of the most popular places for tourists to experience Berlin life
February 06th, 2015
In the 16th Century, the boulevard was built to meet with the needs of the city palace. There was a necessity to have a convenient connection between the palace and the Grunewald hunting lodge. Today, the boulevard consists of magnificent buildings from the nineteenth century, which host the most prestigious boutiques and cafes in Berlin.
The ‘Kudamm’ begins at Breitscheidplatz in Charlottenburg, where the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is situated. It runs all the way to Rathenauplatz in Grunewald, where the villa district of the western part of Berlin starts.
The street was built somewhere around 1542 and it served as a causeway, going from the city castle to the Grunewald hunting lodge. As years past, Elector Joachim II started using it as a bridle path. This was supposedly due to old evidence testifying about an unnamed riding path called ‘Plan géométral de Berlin et des environs’. This was drawn up in 1685 by the engineer La Vigne.
However in 1886, the old road was removed and thus it became possible for the boulevard to be constructed. In the twenties, ‘Kudamm’ was became an attractive place and a meeting point for the German upper-class of the time. Therefore, a lot of theatres, cafes and nightclubs opened in this area as well as the ‘marble house’ of the BerlinFilm Palace, which was created a few years before this period, in 1913.
Today, Kurfürstendamm is the boulevard of excellence in Berlin. For the past few years, the street has been a place for innovation, as numerous new buildings have emerged. In 2001, for instance, the new Kranzlereck opened. The Kudamm Corner at the Joachimsthaler Straße juncture, an eyesore from the 1960`s, was demolished and redeveloped.
References and Links
- For more info: http://www.kurfuerstendamm.de/
