This guide is about the Düsseldorf of the electors and of the artists who came after them: the old town hall and the equestrian statue of Jan Wellem, the Jesuit church where he is buried, the concrete Kunsthalle, the Triton fountain at the end of the Königsallee, the clock on the Rhine that tells the water level, and the pink summer palace of Benrath on the edge of the city. The first five are a short walk apart; Benrath is a trip by tram or train.
Marktplatz and the Old Town Hall
The Marktplatz is the civic centre of the old town. On its river side stands the Old Town Hall, built between 1570 and 1573 by the master builder Heinrich Tussmann of Duisburg as the meeting place of the mayor and council. It is a Renaissance brick building with curved gables and an octagonal stair tower; in 1749 Johann Joseph Couven gave the oldest part a Rococo portal with a balcony. The facades were restored after the Second World War, and the council still uses the building for receptions.
In the middle of the square rides Jan Wellem, the Elector Palatine Johann Wilhelm, who held court in Düsseldorf around 1700 and filled it with artists and a famous picture gallery. His bronze statue by Gabriel de Grupello was set up in 1711 and has often been called one of the finest equestrian statues north of the Alps. Both the Marktplatz and the Old Town Hall are stops on our scavenger hunt.
- The octagonal stair tower and the Rococo portal with its balcony on the Old Town Hall.
- The statue itself, with the elector in armour on horseback. A popular legend, not a documented fact, says that when the bronze ran short during casting, the people of Düsseldorf threw in their silver spoons.
St. Andreas
A few streets east of the Marktplatz, St. Andreas was built from 1622 to 1629 as the church of the Jesuits, whom Duke Wolfgang Wilhelm of Pfalz-Neuburg had invited to the city after he became a Catholic. The white early Baroque interior is covered in stucco, and life-size statues of the apostles, the evangelists and Jesuit saints stand along the walls. The church has been run by Dominican friars since 1972.
On the north side, a mausoleum built in 1716 and 1717 became the burial place of the ruling family. Here lies Jan Wellem, who died in 1716, in a richly decorated sarcophagus designed by Grupello, the same sculptor who made his statue on the Marktplatz. St. Andreas is one of the stops on our scavenger hunt.
- The stucco work, much of it by Johannes Kuhn from the 1630s, and the life-size statues along the aisles.
- The high altar, made in 1959 and 1960 to a design by Ewald Mataré, after the old one was destroyed in the war.
Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf's first Kunsthalle opened in 1881, paid for with money the city received after its electoral painting collection was taken to Munich. That building was badly damaged in the war and pulled down in 1967, and in the same year the present Kunsthalle opened on Grabbeplatz, designed by Konrad Beckmann and Christoph Brockes. Its block of exposed concrete was so unpopular that people called it the art bunker. The Kunsthalle has no permanent collection; it shows changing exhibitions of contemporary art. It is one of the stops on our scavenger hunt.
- The black stovepipe by Joseph Beuys, installed in 1981, sticking out of the outer wall.
- The Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen across the square, with its curved facade of dark stone.
Tritonenbrunnen and the Königsallee
The Königsallee, or Kö, follows the old city moat, turned into a canal and boulevard between 1802 and 1804. It was first known as Kastanienallee, after its chestnut trees, and was renamed King's Avenue after an incident in 1848 in which King Frederick William IV of Prussia was pelted with horse dung on a visit; the new name was meant as a gesture of reconciliation. At the northern end of the canal stands the Tritonenbrunnen, made between 1898 and 1902 by the Düsseldorf sculptor Friedrich Coubillier. It is one of the stops on our scavenger hunt.
- The fountain's figures: the sea god Triton with a lance holding back a huge fish that spouts water, while two small children attack it from the side.
The Pegeluhr on the Rhine
Above the casemates on the Rhine promenade stands a clock with a second job. Next to the time, it shows the level of the Rhine: the big hand gives metres and the small hand centimetres. It has stood here since around 1900, when skippers passing on the river read the level through telescopes. Today boatmen check the level online, but the clock is still a favourite meeting point. The promenade where it stands is the last stop of our scavenger hunt.
Schloss Benrath
In the south of Düsseldorf, near the Rhine, Elector Karl Theodor had a summer and hunting palace built between 1755 and 1771 by his court architect Nicolas de Pigage. It is a maison de plaisance, a pleasure house, in a mix of late Rococo and early classicism, with a pink main building between two side wings. From outside it looks like a single storey, but inside there are four floors with about 80 rooms, light courts, several staircases and hidden corridors that let servants move around unseen.
Today the main building is a museum of the state rooms, the east wing houses the Museum of European Garden Art and the west wing a natural history museum. The large park has a French formal garden, an English landscape garden and a hunting park with star-shaped paths that reaches the Rhine. Schloss Benrath is not on our scavenger hunt route; it is a separate trip from the centre.
- The long Spiegelweiher, the mirror pond that lines up with the domed central hall.
- The tower clock of 1771 and the two gatehouses at the entrance.
How to see them in one walk
Start on the Königsallee at the Tritonenbrunnen and walk north to Grabbeplatz and the Kunsthalle. From there it is a short way to St. Andreas, and then through the lanes of the old town to the Marktplatz, Jan Wellem and the Old Town Hall. Go down to the river behind the town hall to find the Pegeluhr on the promenade. Keep Schloss Benrath for a half day of its own: the tram and the S-Bahn both run there from the centre.
See Düsseldorf with World City Trail
Our Düsseldorf scavenger hunt turns the old town into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops, from Martin-Luther-Platz to the Rheinpromenade, and the Tritonenbrunnen, the Kunsthalle, St. Andreas, the Marktplatz, the Old Town Hall and the Rhine promenade are all stops, along with St. Lambertus, the Stadterhebungsmonument and Burgplatz. At each stop you solve a puzzle and learn a story, at your own pace.
There is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Düsseldorf, for people who prefer a different format.
Play the Düsseldorf scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Düsseldorf →
Play the outdoor escape game in Düsseldorf →
Facts checked in October 2026.