Pre 20th Century History

Written records of Düsseldorf stretch back to 1135, but the town sprang into official existence upon its incorporation in 1288 following the defeat of Cologne in the battle of Worringen - the origin of the rivalry between the cities. The city grew rapidly and saw its Golden Age under Prince Elector Johann Wilhelm, who ruled the city from 1679 to 1716. Jan Wellem, as he was affectionately known, was the enlightened Renaissance ruler par excellence: a rake and bon vivant who married into the Medici family, a developer of the city's trade and infrastructure, and a patron of the arts (the art gallery he designed stands to this day as a monument to his good taste).

After Johann Wilhelm's death Düsseldorf fell into a long, slow decline, which was only halted in the mid-19th century by the arrival of the Industrial Revolution. New machines made lots of new money and the city grew and grew, building bridges so it could spread to the other side of the Rhine.

Modern History

At the apogee of the region's smoggy industrial might, the capital was said to boast more millionaires per yard than any other German city. All that money seemed to have protected the city from the cluttered excesses of industry's ad-hoc civic planning: hence the vast expanses of greenery of which the city is today rightfully proud. It also produced an Art Academy of international stature, spawning such talent as Max Ernst, Otto Dix, Paul Klee and - after WWII - Joseph Beuys.

It's thought that about four-fifths of the city centre was destroyed in the closing stages of WWII. Of a pre-war Jewish population of 5100, only 249 survived. Post-war, the British occupied the region and named Düsseldorf the capital of the newly-created North Rhine-Westphalia. As in many other German cities, the architecture that rose from the ashes didn't prove to have the aesthetic longevity of that which it replaced.

Recent History

Dusseldorf has managed to remain a provincial city with cosmopolitan affluence and style. It has green spaces, high-brow tastes in shopping and museums, and is the second-most important art market in the country, after Cologne.