Coesfeld · DE

Jakobiwall

Jakobiwall is the south-western stretch of Coesfeld's Promenade — the leafy green boulevard that loops around the old town on the line of its long-gone fortifications. It is one of the rare places in this Westphalian town where the medieval and early-modern city plan can still be read in the street layout, a broad tree-lined walk running beside the Umflut, the artificial watercourse once led around the walls. For visitors it is a calm place to stroll, to dip into contemporary art at the gallery that bears the street's number, and to trace the footsteps of pilgrims on the Westphalian Way of St. James. Much of Coesfeld was rebuilt after the Second World War, when the old town was largely destroyed, yet the Promenade — of which Jakobiwall forms a defining segment — survived as the city's spatial backbone, giving the whole centre its orientation. The result is an unusually generous belt of gardens, mature trees and freestanding villas wrapped around the historic core.