the legendary square kilometre on the banks of the Rhine

[GoodTaste]

Why did the author put kilometre there? Does it mean "the legendary square isone kilometre in length and width on the banks of the Rhine

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[FONT=&quot]Today, Düsseldorf is a successful combination of traditions and trends, a city of five seasons: During the “foolish season”, i.e. carnival time, the city bubbles over with sheer zest for life. The city pulsates, it is palpable everywhere. Above all in the Altstadt (Old Town), the legendary square kilometre on the banks of the Rhine with its around 260 restaurants and inns, pubs, rustic breweries and cafés, which earned it the name “the longest bar in the world”. This is the home of the “Altbier”. Nowhere else does this top brewed beer taste as delicious as at the historic microbreweries. But the Altstadt (Old Town) is more than that: Quiet lanes with cobblestones, the old palace tower saluting the ships passing by, the twisted spire of St. Lambertus church leaving its observer puzzled, the splendid old private houses a reminder of past glamour.

Source
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[GoesStation]

The Old Town of Düsseldorf has an area of one square kilometer.

 

[Lynxear]

A "square kilometer" refers refers back to the "Altstadt" which is square in shape with all 4 sides being one kilometer each.

"Above all in the Altstadt (Old Town), the legendary square kilometre on the banks of the Rhine with its around 260 restaurants and inns, pubs, rustic breweries and cafés, which earned it the name “the longest bar in the world”.

This is not a sentence. In fact, the whole passage could do with a rewrite in my opinion.

 

[Rover_KE]

Apparently the Düsseldorf Aldstadt (marked in red) is more or less rectangular.

 

[GoesStation]

Although we're taught that English sentences require verbs, the subject sentence is an example of a perfectly good sentence without one. It's an extension of the previous sentence, with which it shares the verb palpates.

Learners, however, should always include a verb in every sentence except for single-word ones like "No" and "Why?".

 

[Skrej]

Perhaps the area of the rectangle measures one square kilometer, although also I wonder if the author wasn't trying to make a reference to the phrase 'city square'.