Every design for Düsseldorf

Beside the tower of St. Lambertus, in the lanes of the old town, Düsseldorf still remembers the small settlement at the mouth of the Düssel that it once was. The town gained its rights after the Battle of Worringen, grew under the Dukes of Berg into a regional court capital, and in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries became known for its arts, its architecture and an early art academy.

The Jan-Wellem-Denkmal stands in front of the Altes Rathaus, and the Schlossturm keeps watch nearby – the old town's markers for anyone finding their way between the bars and the river. A short walk away, the Heine Haus and the Heinrich-Heine-Institut keep the poet's name in view. Napoleon's Grand Duchy of Berg came and went, Prussian rule brought rapid industry, and after the Second World War Düsseldorf became the capital of the new state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Today the city is known for fashion, trade fairs, carnival, the shopping boulevard everyone calls the Kö, and the only Japantown in Germany. If your evenings out began in the old town and ended on the banks of the Rhine, this is your map – and you know exactly which corner of it is yours.