Königsallee got its royal name because a boy threw horse droppings at a king. In 1848, during an attempted revolution, Prussia’s King Frederick William IV rode down the street, then called Kastanienstrasse, or Chestnut Street. The revolution failed, and an embarrassed city renamed the street Königsallee, the King’s Boulevard, to make amends.

The boulevard itself began in 1801, when Napoleon decreed that Düsseldorf must not rebuild its fortifications. The remains were torn down and a street took their place, beside a canal fed by the river Düssel. That is why the Kö, as it is also called, is reportedly Germany’s widest street. Today it is lined with luxury stores.

VoiceMap’s Düsseldorf tour sets off down the Kö from Heinrich-Heine-Allee, tells the horse-dropping story from the bridge, and points out Green Mathilda, the last of eight cast-iron clocks.