Germany Archive - 101cityscapes

19. April 2016Jörg Dietrich

Greiz | Germany | Train Station | Week 21

Greiz, first mentioned as Grewcs in 1209, lies 80 km south of Leipzig, 120 km west of Dresden and ca. 250 km east of Frankfurt on the river Weisse Elster. 18th largest city of the german state Thuringia (german: Thüringen).

Population: 21.000 [2014] | 36.000 [1984] | 39.000 [1931] | 23.000 [1905]

Greiz, also nicknamed the „Pearl of the Vogtland“ is situated in the thuringian Vogtland, named after the Vögte (advocats) of Weida, Gera, Plauen and Greiz. First a residence in the mid 13th century it has been home to the „House of Reuss“, a ruling german dynasty, from the 14th century to 1918. They have built the two castles in the city, the Oberes Schloss (Upper Castle) and Unteres Schloss (Lower Castle). As a former residence city Greiz is known for its representative buildings, some of them in Art Nouveau style, and the english style Greizer Park with its Sommerpalais (summer palace).

Here we see the main train station building of Greiz with its annexe buildings. The station building was errected in the 1870s when the connection to Plauen was established. At the time of this photograph in 2014 it was uninhabited and as a sign on its door declares „for sale“ – though trains are still stopping at the station. However we chose this street view as an example of train stations in linear panorama views. The historic station buildings all over europe often occupied a complete street front hard to be photographed in its entirety. You can find more examples in our train station archive.

Click for larger view:

For classic view and more infos about the streetview (german link):

Previously published streetlines from Thuringia and Greiz

Yet unpublished here is a linear view of the central ensemble with the Lower Castle, the Gymnasium and the Upper Castle in the back:

We documented a number of train station buildings across europe (inlcuding Istanbul, Prague, Paris, Milan, Glasgow…) which are yet unedited, here are some unfinnished examples:

top to bottom: Görlitz, Quedlinburg, Worms, Luxor, Prague

10. Februar 2016Jörg Dietrich

Munich | Germany | Residenz München | Week 17

Munich [german: München], first mentioned 1158, lies 350 km west of Vienna, 300 km north of Venice and 500 km south of Berlin on the shores of the Isar river. It is the 3rd lagest city in Germany and 19th largest city in Europe.

Population: 1.439.000 [2014] | 1.229.000 [1990] | 729.000 [1930] | 500.000 [1900]

Munich has become the seat of a bavarian duke in 1255 and in 1506 it became capital of all of Bavaria. Munich hosted the 1972 Olympic Games and is home to the Oktoberfest, the world’s largest Volksfest. The city is a financial and cultural centre of Germany and home to Bayern München, one of the most prominent football clubs of europe.

Here we see the complete west side of the Munich Residenz, which had been the Residence of the Bavarian Rulers from 1508 to 1918. The Residenz is the largest city palace of germany. The main facade here was built as the Maximillianische Residenz in the early 17th century and is dominated by two portals flanked by lions and a statue of the mother of god as Patrona Bavariae. On the right end we see the side facade of the Königsbau next to the Max-Joseph-Square.

We have captured a number of Streetlines in the bavarian capital, find a summary of the material we worked on in our Munich overview.

Click for larger view:

For classic view and more infos about the square (german link):

24. Dezember 2015Jörg Dietrich

Zwickau | Germany | Hauptmarkt | Week 15

Zwickau, founded in the 12th century, lies 60 km south of Leipzig and about 150 km northwest of Prague at the foot of the ore mountains [german: Erzgebirge], 4th largest city in the german state Saxony and 88th largest city in Germany (2014).

Population: 91.000 (2014) | 122.000 (1988) | 85.000 (1930) | 56.000 (1900)

Zwickau quickly gained importance after its foundation and was a free imperial city in the early 14th century. Besides Wittenberg it was an early centre of the Lutheran Reformation. From the 15th to the 20th century Zwickau was a centre of the mining industry in Germany, especially for hard-coal from Zwickau and silver from the ore mountains. Hence the city played an important role in german industrialisation and was for centuries one of the main economic and cultural centres of Saxony. It is also a cradle of the german automobile industry with Audi and Horch being founded in the city, while during the GDR times it was the city of the Trabant, the most well known car of the eastern bloc.

Here we see a night view in christmas lighting of the southern side of the main market square (Hauptmarkt), which includes two of the cities main buildings, the Gewandhaus on the left and the town hall in the centre. The Gewandhaus (cloth merchants‘ hall) was built in the 16th century and today serves as the main theatre of the city. The town hall was built in 1404 and features the elaborate city emblem above its portal. The last building on this side of the square on the far right, which was unfortunately hidden by christmas stalls for this photography, is the birthplace (and museum) for the famous composer Robert Schuhmann.

Visit our archive for other streetline panoramas from Saxony.

Click for larger view:

For classic view (english link):

6. November 2015Jörg Dietrich

Düsseldorf | Germany | Königsallee | Week 12

Düsseldorf [Dutch: Dusseldorp], founded in 12th century, got city rights in 1288, lies on the shores of the Rhine, 30 km north of Cologne and 170 km east of Brussels, 2nd largest city in the Bundesland Nordrhein Westphalen (Northrhine-Westphalia), 7th largest in Germany and 66th largest in europe.

Population: 605.000 (2014) | 576.000 (1990) | 478.000 (1930) | 214.000 (1900)

Düsseldorf is the capital of the german Bundesland Northrhine-Westphalia and a centre of the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area. A newly founded city of the 12th century it was named after the small river Düssel which flows into the Rhine here. It became the residence city of the Duchy of Berg in the 14th century. Today Düsseldorf is an important trade fair city and economic centre in germany. It is also well known for its carnival and its art academy (the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf).

Here we have one block along the west side of the Königsallee in Düsseldorf. Locally nicknamed the „Kö“, the street is one of the main luxury shopping streets of germany. This however is its so called „quiet side“, with mainly banks and hotels residing, instead of shops. The street is also known for its landscaped canal, lined with large old sycamore trees, running along the old site of the cities fortifications.

Visit our archive for other streetline panoramas from the Bundesland Northrhine-Westphalia.

Click for larger view:

For classic view and further details visit the archive (for english link click here):

In our archive other streets from Düsseldorf have been documented, including the Kurze Strasse, the Mittelstrasse or the market square amongst others. A finnished panorama of the media harbour has been published to our archive before (english link):

19. Oktober 2015Jörg Dietrich

Potsdam | Germany | Kurfürstenstraße | week 10

Potsdam [Sorbian: Podstupim], first mentioned in 993, lies directly south-west of Berlin and 120 km north of Leipzig on the shores of the river Havel, largest city of the state Brandenburg and 45th largest in Germany.

Population: 164.000 (2014) | 140.000 (1990) | 73.000 (1930) | 60.000 (1900)

Potsdam is the capital of the german state Brandenburg, which surrounds Berlin. From the 17th century the city has been a residence city of the Prussian Monarchy, resulting in several castles and parks, including the famous palace Sanssouci, all of which are included in the UNESCO world heritage list. The Filmstudio Babelsberg was the first large movie studio of the world (Metropolis by Fritz Lang was made here) and the Alexander Nevsky Memorial Church is the oldest russian orthodox church of western europe.

Here we see a carré of the Dutch Quarter (german: Holländisches Viertel) in Kurfürstenstrasse. The dutch quarter was built by architect Jan Bouman 1732-1742 on order of the prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm I. to attract dutch workers to the rapidly growing city. Potsdam’s dutch quarter is europe’s largest collection of dutch style houses outside the Netherlands.

Visit our archive for other streetline panoramas from Germany.

Click for larger view:

For classic view and further details visit the archive (for english link click here):

In our archive other streets from Potsdam have been documented, including the Brandenburger Strasse and the Nauener Tor which continues the panorama above and can be seen in a preview below.

1. Oktober 2015Jörg Dietrich

Cologne | Germany | Schildergasse | Week 8

Cologne [German: Köln, Latin: Colonia], founded over 2.000 years ago, lies in western Germany on the shores of the Rhine, ca. 160 km east of Brussels and 50 km south of the Ruhr region, largest city in the german state Northrhine-Westphalia, 4th largest in Germany and 29th in Europe.

Population: 1.047.00 (2014) | 953.000 (1990) | 740.000 (1930) | 372.000 (1900)

Cologne was declared a roman city as Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippensium (CCAA) in the year 50 and was capital of the province Germania inferior. Since then it always retained its prominent role in the region, has been a member of the Hanseatic League, has always been a key city of the Catholics and in more recent history also been famous for its Carnival. Cologne is part of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region (the 6th largest in europe) and home to one UNESCO world heritage site – the Cologne Cathedral, the largest gothic church of Northern Europe.

The Schildergasse (literal english: shields alley) is, despite its modern looks, the second oldest street of Cologne, having been the major east-west street of the roman city. Today it is the cities major shopping street (and one of the most frequented in Germany) with several big department stores and high street labels. Cologne was one of the most severe hit german cities in WWII, so the old town looks rather modern today, as can be seen in this street section. The only historic building here is the Haus Schierenberg, built in 1894.

Visit our archive for other streetline panoramas from the Bundesland Northrhine-Westphalia.

Click for larger view:

For classic view and further details visit the archive (for english link click here):

3. September 2015Jörg Dietrich

Lübeck | Germany | An der Untertrave | Week 4

Lübeck [latin: Lubeca], first settled as Liubice by Slavs in the 8th century, first mentioned in 1076, lies on the Baltic Sea 65 km east of Hamburg, 2nd largest city in the state Schleswig-Holstein, 35th largest city in Germany

Population: 213.000 (2015) | 213.000 (1989) | 130.000 (1936) | 82.000 (1900)

Lübeck has been the „Queen of the Hanse“ (leading city of the Hanseatic League) from the late 13th to the 15th century and during that time was also one of the biggest and most important german cities. The remaining parts of the medival old town, including the famous Holstentor, have been declared an UNESCO world heritage site in 1987. Also Lübeck is known for the literature of the brothers Thomas and Heinrich Mann, as well as the Buddenbrookhaus made famous in the novel „Buddenbrooks„.

This panorama by Lutz Riedel represents a stretch along the Untertrave, a section of the Trave river. Some important buildings here are the St. Marienkirche (St. Mary Church) in the back, the Marzipan Storehouses right of the centre and the Carl Tesdorpf building (an eyxclusive whine trader) left of the centre. we also see two streets going into the old town, the Alfstrasse next to the church and the Mengstrasse in the middle, which goes up to the Buddenbrookhaus. The large Marzipan Storehouses still remind of the important role the city played in the production and trade of Marzipan in the 19th and 20th century.

You can also find another street view of the Mengstrasse in our Lübeck archive.

Click for larger view:

For classic view and further details visit the archive:

20. August 2015Jörg Dietrich

Rostock | Germany | Kröpeliner Strasse | Week 2

Rostock [latin: Rostochium], earliest settlings by slavic tribes, first mention as Rozstoc in 1165, lies on the Baltic Sea, about 150 km east of Hamburg, largest city of the state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, 39th largest city in Germany

Population: 203.000 (2013) | 253.000 (1989) | 84.000 (1930) | 55.000 (1900)

Rostock has been an important city of the Hanse (also called Hanseatic League), had always been an important harbour city and its university is the oldest around the Baltic Sea and in Northern Europe (founded 1419).

Here we see a section of its main shopping street, the Kröpeliner Straße, photographed in august 2013. The left street block lies directly along the university square (Universitätsplatz), a central square highly frequented by tourists and locals. The street was part of the medieval city core and is dominated by gabled houses in baroque, classicistic or historicistic style. The only building in brick gothic style is the Ratschow-Haus in the middle of the right block, today housing the city library. The name of the street is referring either to the city Kröpelin or to the influential family of that name that once lived in Rostock. That’s a question, that is still open for discussion.

Visit our archive for more streetline panoramas from the german state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

Click for larger view:

For classic view and further details visit the archive:

And a little preview (to be extended) of another streetline from Rostock’s seaside district Warnemünde, the Alexandrinenstrasse: