Berthold Stele

Could a boulevard whisper secrets? Here at the Berthold Stele, part of the Berthold-Beitz-Boulevard, it feels like it could. The Berthold-Beitz-Boulevard, a major artery slicing through Essen’s Westviertel, isn’t just asphalt and concrete. It’s a testament to a man, Berthold Beitz, whose life intertwined with Krupp, a name synonymous with Essen’s industrial heart. This stele marks more than just a street; it signifies Essen bending its own rules. Naming a street after a living person? Unprecedented. Yet, for Beitz, the city made an exception. He was, after all, Alfried Krupp’s right-hand man and chairman of the Krupp Foundation. The boulevard’s first section, inaugurated in 2009, stretches between Pferdebahnstraße and Altendorfer Straße. It cost a hefty 38 million Euros. Later, the boulevard swallowed the Bamlerstraße, further solidifying Beitz’s presence in Essen’s landscape. But the boulevard isn’t just about one man. It’s a story of evolution. Old railway bridges replaced by sleek, modern structures for cyclists. Tram lines 109 carving a new path, a first since World War II. The Berthold-Beitz-Boulevard isn’t static. It’s a living, breathing entity. Constantly expanding, evolving, with ongoing construction pushing its reach further south. It connects neighborhoods, facilitates movement, and perhaps, whispers the secrets of a city and the man who helped shape it.