Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Concert hall in Pempelfort district, Düsseldorf, Germany
Tonhalle Düsseldorf is a concert hall in Pempelfort whose round brick building, designed by Wilhelm Kreis, rises from a square base about 85 metres wide. The inner rotunda is 36 metres across and 30 metres high, topped by a copper-clad dome with a gilded star. Inside, a near-hemispherical concert hall seats 1,854 beneath a ceiling with 21 concave mirrors by Adolf Luther.
The building was erected in 1926 as a planetarium for the GeSoLei exhibition and originally served for astronomical projections. After World War II, it was converted into a concert hall, shaping the city as a music venue ever since.
The building was called Rheinhalle until it took the name of the old Tonhalle destroyed in the war. Nine of the eleven spandrel paintings made in 1926 hang in the round foyer corridor, seen clockwise from the main entrance: works by Jankel Adler, Bernhard Gobiet, Arthur Kaufmann, Adolf Uzarski, Heinz May, Carl Cürten, Fritz Burmann, Josef Bell and Werner Heuser. The Düsseldorfer Symphoniker play symphonic repertoire here and opera at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein.
Access is provided through ramps and elevators that reach all levels of the building. The nearest light rail stop sits directly outside the entrance, connecting the venue with the center and surrounding neighborhoods.
An organ with multiple manuals and pedals was installed in the late 1970s and has since expanded the sonic possibilities during performances. The instrument complements the acoustics of the round hall with warm, deep tones carried through the dome.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,134 contributors worldwide.
