Düsternbrook and Bellevue

The wonderful Bellevue viewing point on the wooded hills of the Düsternbrook, with sweeping views out in to the Baltic, was created by ice-age terminal moraine formations. The area became Kiel’s first local excursion area in the early 19th century, when the Romantic move ment’s view of nature opened people’s eyes to the natural beauty of the Baltic coast.

Inns and cafés, pavilions and even an open-air theatre, followed in 1822 by the first sea-bathing facilities, which were highly attractive socially, soon came into being, with access from the improved Düsternbrooker Allee (Düsternbrook avenue).

Pressure on housing in the Düsternbrook area increased with Kiel’s ultra-rapid growth in the second half of the 19th century. Exclusive middle-class residential areas sprang up, but the city also set public green spaces aside as parks or reserves: the forestry tree nursery, the Diederichsenpark and the Düsternbrooker Gehölz (Düsternbrook wood) with the Krusenkoppel came to be Kiel’s most beautiful parks.

A seashore path, which used to go all the way to Bellevue, was developed in the 1920s, rechristened Hindenburgufer (promenade) in 1933 and Kiellinie in 2014. Imposing villas were built here as well, including the clubhouse for the Imperial Yacht Club and the Kruppsche Logierhaus (Krupp guest house), now the World Economics Institute. The 1936 Olympics regatta harbour was sited north of this, extending all the way to Bellevue, as can still be seen from a little pavilion - though in its 1950s version.

Pictorial material: Kieler Stadtarchiv, Stadt- und Schifffahrtsmuseum, Urbahns

Where can you find this point?
Link to the city map