Ehrenhof Ensemble (1926 GeSoLei Exhibition Buildings)

The Ehrenhof ensemble stands on the Rhine bank in the Golzheim district of Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, at Ehrenhof 1. It was designed by the architect Wilhelm Kreis for the GeSoLei exhibition of 1926, whose name abbreviates health care (Gesundheitspflege), social welfare (soziale Fürsorge) and physical exercise (Leibesübungen). The fair drew millions of visitors in the mid-1920s and presented new ideas about public health and social policy. Kreis arranged the buildings around a monumental court of honour, the Ehrenhof, using dark brick with sculptural reliefs, stepped forms and a monumental colonnade in the Expressionist manner. The complex was intended to last beyond the exhibition and was kept for cultural use. Today it contains the Museum Kunstpalast, one of Germany's major art museums, and the Tonhalle, the city's concert hall, which occupies the former domed rotunda that was converted in 1978. Other parts of the site host exhibition and cultural spaces. The ensemble was damaged in the Second World War and was repaired and adapted in the following decades, and the exterior with its sculptures and fountains is well preserved. The Rhine promenade runs beside the ensemble, and the Rheinturm and the NRW-Forum lie nearby. Visitors can walk through the courtyard free of charge, while the museum and concert hall follow their own opening hours and ticket arrangements. For history travellers the site gives a rare view of the architecture and social ideas of the Weimar years, seen in a setting that is now a lively cultural quarter. The wide courtyard is also a pleasant place to walk or sit on dry days.