Cultural Quarter
Hofgarten
What Central Park is to New Yorkers or the Jardin du Luxembourg is to Parisians, the Cultural Quarter Hofgarten is to the people of Düsseldorf: their beloved green heart. And it's more than just a splendid park in the English landscape style. It’s a kaleidoscope of art, nature, history and vibrant city life. People come here to meet – and in doing so, encounter monuments, sculptures and architectural gems. In and around the many museums, cultural and culinary pleasures are combined effortlessly.
Museums
Where culture meets local history
Many of the buildings, which now house Kunstpalast, the NRW-Forum, Tonhalle, the Theatermuseum Hofgartenhaus, the Goethe-Museum/Schloss Jägerhof or Künstlerverein Malkasten are steeped in Düsseldorf's cultural and local history. Among them are the late Baroque Schloss Jägerhof, the rose-coloured Villa Pempelfort once home to the legendary Jacobi brothers, the former gardener’s house of landscape visionary Maximilian Weyhe, a concert hall that once served as a planetarium and the former Ehrenhof exhibition grounds.
Restaurants and Bars
The art of enjoyment
The restaurants and bars in Düsseldorf’s Cultural Quarter Hofgarten offer more than just good food – they blend culinary excellence with artistic context, striking settings and vibrant urban life. Be it in an original avant-garde club adorned with works by Günther Uecker and Gerhard Richter, on scenic park terraces, with a traditional Altbier (dark, top-fermented beer) and a majestic view of the Rhine, or at one of the many music events and cultural festivals – there's something here for every taste.
Architecture and places
The city’s living room
At the heart of the Cultural Quarter lies a striking architectural trio that defines Düsseldorf’s cityscape: Schauspielhaus, Dreischeibenhaus and Kö-Bogen. Together with the spaces around and between them, they embody the city’s bold approach to uniting historical heritage, contemporary design and urban nature in perfect harmony. Streams fed by the River Düssel flow seamlessly between the temples of culture in Hofgarten and the temples of commerce along Königsallee.
Good to know
About the Cultural Quarter Hofgarten
Although Goethe visited Düsseldorf only twice – in 1774 and 1792 – the city is home to one of the world’s three largest Goethe collections, with over 35,000 exhibits, first editions and original letters by the poet.
In Hofgarten, when: Elector Carl Theodor opened what was once a royal park to the public, he created Germany’s first public garden. For the first time, it was no longer just the nobility who could promenade and present themselves in public.
During the Napoleonic occupation, the so-called décret beauté transformed the cleared fortification areas into landscaped parkland. In 1804, Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe – the landscape design superstar of his time – created a green belt that still curves gently through the city centre from north to south.
Since 1960, the elegant Dreischeibenhaus – standing 94 metres tall – has shaped Düsseldorf’s skyline. The striking high-rise even made a cameo in the Hollywood film Cloud Atlas starring Tom Hanks. Director Tom Tykwer, however, relocated the building to 1970s San Francisco for the scene.
