Hansaplatz

Hansaplatz occupies a central position in Dortmund’s city centre, southwest of Alter Markt. The pedestrian square hosts Dortmund’s weekly market and large public gatherings. Karstadt’s facade dominates the northern side, while the southern side carries a former Dortmunder Bankverein building. Hansakontor and the former Dominican monastery, now Propsteikirche, complete the surrounding cityscape.

Urban development began in 1904, when Dortmund acquired properties for a permanent market site. Meat traders had moved here after the Alter Markt could no longer accommodate them. Residential courtyards and barns once surrounded Karpfenpoth, which may have contained a carp pond. The eastern section included the von Wickede family estate, where Emperor Charles IV stayed in 1378. Empress Elisabeth stayed there the following year, before the main house disappeared in 1823.

Wilhelm Kreis designed the northern extension between 1910 and 1912, and the protected monument remains. A former bank building from around 1906 still stands beside the square. A parking garage built beneath it in the late 1980s created the pedestrian zone. Frescoes from the demolished Kaisersaal entered Dortmund’s museum before being lost during World War Two.