Düsseldorf is the German symbol of the economic miracle and the city that developed the fastest of all after World War II. However, quite a few monuments from the pre-industrial period have survived here, including the church of St. Lambert and the Hunter's Palace, in which the Goethe Museum and the Rococo Benrath Palace operate.
Düsseldorf developed in the Middle Ages as a thriving commercial center. Bourgeois tenement houses, town churches with the Gothic temple of St. Lambert and a 16th-century town hall come from this period. In 1380, the city became the seat of the princes of the Berg principality, and then it fell into the hands of the Wittelsbach family, who also sat on the imperial throne. In the suburbs you can see the ruins of the imperial palace, while the summer palace of Benrath from the 18th century has been preserved to this day surrounded by a large, romantic park.
Two great German poets, Johann Goethe and Neinrich Heine, were also associated with Düsseldorf. The first was commemorated thanks to the museum located in the former hunting lodge, while the second has an institute of its name here, where literature research is conducted.
