Kurfürstendamm

The Kurfürstendamm is one of the most famous avenues in Berlin. The street takes its name from the former Kurfürsten (prince-electors) of Brandenburg. The broad, long boulevard can be considered the Champs-Élysées of Berlin and is lined with shops, houses, hotels and restaurants. You haven’t seen Berlin if you haven’t been to Kurfürstendamm. The world-famous boulevard in the west of the city is not only a bustling shopping street, but also a destination for lovers of architecture and culture.

In particular, many fashion designers have their shops there, as well as several car manufacturers’ show rooms. The avenue includes four lines of plane trees and runs for 3.5 km (2.2 mi) through the city. It branches off from the Breitscheidplatz, where the ruins of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church stand, and leads southwestward up to the district of Grunewald.

Unlike the adjacent streets, the Kurfürstendamm developed out of a historic corduroy road (German: Damm) laid out by the Brandenburg margraves to reach the Grunewald hunting lodge, which was erected about 1542 at the behest of the Hohenzollern elector Joachim II Hector. From 1875 the former bridlepath was embellished as a boulevard with a breadth of 53 m (174 ft) on the personal initiative of chancellor Otto von Bismarck.

Especially during the “Golden Twenties” the Kurfürstendamm area of the “New West” was a centre of leisure and nightlife in Berlin, an era that ended with the Great Depression and the Nazi Machtergreifung in 1933. The boulevard witnessed dark periods during Nazi rule, including violent anti-Jewish riots in the 1930s.

After German reunification the Kurfürstendamm had to compete with central places like Potsdamer Platz, Friedrichstraße, and Alexanderplatz, which led to the closing of numerous cafés and cinemas. It retained the character of a flâneur and upscale shopping street as the western continuation of the Tauentzienstraße with its large department stores.

Today, the Kurfürstendamm is the lifeline of Berlin’s western city center and one of the most famous streets in the world. The number one shopping mile in Berlin is 3.5 kilometers long and located in the Charlottenburg district between Breitscheidplatz and Halensee. As you move west towards Halensee, the boutiques become classier and the window displays more luxurious. Stroll past the showcases of international fashion designers such as Armani, Chanel, and Yves Saint Laurent.