Böttcherstrasse

Lonely Planet review

If Bremen's Markt is striking, the nearby Böttcherstrasse (1931) is unique. A charming laneway with a golden entrance, staggered red-brick walls and a spiral staircase with colourful inlaid glass, it's a superb example of Expressionist/Art Nouveau styling.

This 110m-long street was commissioned in 1931 by Ludwig Roselius, a merchant who made his fortune by inventing decaffeinated coffee and founding the company Hag in the early 20th century. Most of the street's design was by Bernhard Hoetger (1874-1959), including the Lichtbringer (Bringer of Light), the golden relief at the northern entrance, showing a scene from the Apocalypse with the Archangel Michael fighting a dragon.

Hoetger's Haus Atlantis (now the Bremen Hilton) features a show-stopping, multicoloured, glass-walled spiral staircase, which you can peek at through the doors anytime. Hoetger worked around the existing, 16th-century Roselius Haus, but the Paula Modersohn-Becker Haus, with its rounded edges and wall reliefs, is his design too.

Today these two houses adjoin museums. The first showcases the art of the eponymous painter, Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876-1907), an early Expressionist and member of the Worpswede colony. The second contains Roselius' private collection of medieval art.

Outside, the Glockenspiel chimes while a panel honouring great sea explorers, such as Leif Eriksson and Christopher Columbus, rotates.

Böttcherstrasse is all the more enjoyable for having survived a Nazi destruction order. Roselius convinced the authorities to save the 'degenerate' street as a future warning of the depravity of 'cultural Bolshevism'.

Böttcherstrasse is also a great shopping precinct for jewellery, from antique silver and oodles of amber to modern designer pieces.