Berlin, Germany

Kurfürstendamm Area

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

View over Kurfürstendamm with Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church and tower of Europa-Center

The Kurfürstendamm, known locally as the Ku'damm, is one of the most famous avenues in Berlin. The street takes its name from the former Kurfürsten (prince-electors) of Brandenburg. This very broad, long boulevard can be considered the Champs-Élysées of Berlin — full of shops, houses, hotels and restaurants. In particular, many fashion designers have their shops there, as well as several car manufacturers' show rooms.

Description

The avenue with four lines of plane trees runs for 3.5 km (2.2 mi) through the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf borough in western Berlin. It branches off from the Breitscheidplatz near Bahnhof Zoo and the ruins of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church and leads southwestward through the Charlottenburg district. At the junction with Joachimstaler Straße it passes the Café Kranzler, successor of the Café des Westens, a famous venue for artists and bohémiens of the pre-World-War-I era. Near Uhlandstraße U-Bahn station is the Kempinski hotel as well as the Theater am Kurfürstendamm at the site of a former exhibition hall of the Berlin Secession art association.

At Adenauerplatz the boulevard reaches the district of Wilmersdorf, where it passes the Schaubühne theatre on Lehniner Platz. The more sober western or "upper" end of the Kurfürstendamm is marked by the Berlin-Halensee railway station on the Ringbahn line and the junction with the Bundesautobahn 100 (Stadtring) at the Rathenauplatz roundabout, featuring the long disputed 1987 "Beton Cadillacs" sculpture by Wolf Vostell.

Luxury boutiques located on the Kurfürstendamm include 7 for all Mankind, Aigner, Bally, Bogner, Bottega Veneta, Brunello Cucinelli, Bvlgari, Burberry, Cartier, Chanel, Chopard, Dolce & Gabbana, Ermenegildo Zegna, Escada, Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Hermès, Hublot, Hugo Boss, Jil Sander, Longchamp, Louis Vuitton, Maurice Lacroix, Mulberry, Philipp Plein, Porsche Design, Prada, Rolex, Saint Laurent Paris, Steiff, Wolford, Wunderkind and Valentino.

My Images 2012