We start our cycling tour on the 3,000-year-old Westenhellweg, which was a trade route from the Meuse to the Memel and also served for salt production. We then cycle to the Freistuhl, which has been mentioned in Dortmund's historical sources for 1,000 years. From here, we continue along Hansastraße to Krügerpassage, where stock exchange activities took place and many events were held until 1943.
We will ride along Kampstrasse and around the venerable Protestant St. Reinoldi Church. Here, you can not only hear a lot about Dortmund's financial and commercial history, you can also see it. The beginnings of the Brückviertel district in front of us date back to the time of Charlemagne (768–814). Of the Burgtor (castle gate) and the nearby Königshof (royal court), only the names have been preserved. We read the place name Gnadenort. An older name from 1610 is “Quaden Ort” or “Quaemort”. This means something like “nasty, swampy, gloomy, bad place.”
As early as the 9th century, Brückstraße was the main thoroughfare for Dortmund due to its favourable location as an crossroads between the Hellweg and a major north–south trade route. The street market that had previously been held there was moved to the market square on Trisselgasse, now known as Alter Markt, due to space constraints. Dortmund faced the problem that all the roads were often under water, which is why “bridges” and beams were laid to allow merchants' carts to pass. Balkenstraße was first mentioned by name in 1342 as “Lohus (Lohhaus) subter Trabes” (under the beams). At the end of the 14th century, in addition to the name “Balkenstrate”, it was also called “Gruetstrate”. This name was derived from the Grüttehaus, the council brewery opposite. Balkenstraße used to be a corduroy road for the merchants' wagons, hence the name Balkenstraße (Beam Street). After all, the name Dortmund means “Throtmanni”: a settlement by gurgling waters.
Our first tour ends at the Old Market on Trisselgasse: Fraud during market trading was publicly condemned here:
The dishonest market trader was “trisselled,” meaning he was put in a cage that was visible to all, the Trissel. Now we'll cycle from here to the Ostfriedhof (East Cemetery), where successful Dortmund businesspeople were buried. We will discuss individual graves.
After that, we will turn our attention to Dortmund's current and modern commercial buildings by cycling down the B1, Germany's busiest federal highway, to the university campus. Here, we will admire the latest technology companies that are attracting attention worldwide. We will cycle back to the starting point of our tour, the Freistuhl opposite Dortmund Central Station, along the upgraded cycle paths.