Düsseldorf is one of Germany’s wealthiest cities, and the pleasant neighbourhood of Kaiserswerth to the north of the city centre is one of the wealthiest areas of Düsseldorf. This knowledge still doesn’t prepare you for just how different Kaiserswerth feels, or for the fact that the recorded history of the area can be dated back to the English monk, Saint Suitbert, known as the Apostle of the Frisians, who established an abbey here in 703.
Kaiserswerth didn’t become a suburb of Düsseldorf until 1929, and while technically that makes it the oldest part of the city, it still feels like a small country town – albeit one with an unusually high number of high end shops – rather than part of a major German city. Pretty 17th and 18th century houses, cobblestone streets and the 12th century Saint Suitbertus Church, all nestling along the banks of the Rhine, complete the picture of a place apart.
The most famous building in Kaiserswerth is one that gives the town its name: the Kaiserpfalz. The name simply means the seat of the Emperor. In this case though, it refers to no normal Emperor, but to the legendary King Frederick I of Germany, the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa. So in the 12th century, the former town of Werth that had stood here for hundreds of years became Kaiserswerth.
Barbarossa fortified this site because of the lucrative Rhine trade and the taxes he could extract from merchants. All that cash had to be protected, and in some places the walls are four metres thick. An eventful history came to an inglorious end when it was blown up in 1702 to prevent King Louis XIV of France from controlling it during the War of the Spanish Succession. Many of the nearby houses were built with stone from the fortress.
The English connection extends beyond Saint Suitbert. In 1850, Florence Nightingale, who would soon make her name in the Crimean War, arrived in Kaiserswerth. She had four months of medical training with Pastor Theodor Fliednerat who ran the Institution of Kaiserswerth, a Lutheran religious community helping the sick and needy. The experience was transformative for Florence.
A few years after receiving medical training here, Florence would put her new skills to good use in the Crimea. It was that experience that eventually saw the title of ‘founder of modern nursing’ bestowed upon her. Kaiserswerth would remain important to her, and it’s not a coincidence that her first book, published in 1851, was titled The Institution of Kaiserswerth on the Rhine, for the Practical Training of Deaconesses.
We were staying nearby with friends and found ourselves in Kaiserswerth after a lovely Sunday morning walk. We had started near the early 13th century Church of St. Lambertus before entering the pleasant park in which the moated, pink-hued Schloss Kalkum sits. The current building is in a spot that has likely been fortified since the 12th century, but what you see today is mostly an 18th and 19th century creation.
Given its proximity to Düsseldorf airport, it’s a near miracle that it wasn’t damaged during the Second World War. Leaving the Schloss park along its arrow straight driveway, we soon found ourselves on the banks of the Rhine. When we were last in Düsseldorf the Rhine was suffering a prolonged drought with catastrophically low water levels. Things seemed better this time, but the river hadn’t fully recovered.
We strolled in the historic heart of the town, centred around the Kaiserswerther Markt, and wandering through some of the small cobbled streets with their lovely 18th century townhouses. As we wandered back for Sunday lunch, we passed the modern Florence Nightingale hospital where our friends’ grandchild had been born only hours earlier.
