Kurfurstendamm Berlin

Kurfurstendamm Berlin

Kurfürstendamm is one of the most popular avenues in Berlin. Named after the Kurfürsten (Electors) of the Holy Roman Empire, Kurfürstendamm is essentially a fashionable shopping stretch and is often referred to as the 5th Avenue of Berlin. The road is lined with boutiques of famous designers as well showrooms of cars.

Kurfürstendamm begins near Bahnhof Zoo (which was previously an important railway station) at the Zoologischer Garten and follows through Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf.

The history of Kurfürstendamm as a road goes back further than nineteenth century to the 1500s, when Kurfürstendamm was rough pathway built in order to allow the Elector Prince Joachim II to travel conveniently to and fro from his palace to his hunting lodge in the forest of Grunewald.

Kurfürstendamm remained unchanged until Otto von Bismarck, actuated by the victory over France in the French-German war in 1870-71, envisaged it as a fashionable boulevard with posh houses and numerous trees. His visions materialized in the shape of handsome villas which were later replaced by high rises in the beginning of twentieth century. In the beginning the shops and restaurants catered mainly to the artistic people; soon a person seen in Kurfürstendamm was seen as man of redoubtable consequence.

The ravages of the World War II struck the magnificent buildings in Kurfürstendamm, which had imparted a unique landscape to the street. More than half of the buildings suffered irreparable damages. In spite of the fervent reconstruction programme, Kurfürstendamm could never regain its former glory.

In the wake of separation of Berlin into East and West Berlin, Kurfürstendamm rose into the position of the most prominent commercial street in West Berlin. Since the unification, the popularity of Kurfürstendamm has waned. Most of the fashionable shops have left and given way to numerous souvenir shops.

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