- Essen
Infobox German Location
Art = city
image_photo = Essen_pan.jpg
image_caption = View over the center of Essen from the "Tetraeder" landmark inBottrop . In the background the "Ruhr Heights".
Wappen = Wappen_Stadt_Essen_DE.svg
lat_deg = 51 | lat_min = 27 | lat_sec = 3
lon_deg = 7 | lon_min = 0 | lon_sec = 47
Bundesland = North Rhine-Westphalia
Regierungsbezirk = Düsseldorf
Kreis = urban
Höhe = 116
Fläche = 210.32
Einwohner = 578990
pop_ref = [ [http://www.essen.de/Deutsch/Rathaus/Statistik/Bev%C3%B6lkerungszahlen.pdf] ]
Stand = 2007-09-30
pop_metro = 5.302.179
pop_metro_date = 2004-12-31
PLZ = 45001-45359
PLZ-alt = 4300
Vorwahl = 0201, 02054 (Kettwig)
Kfz = E
Gemeindeschlüssel = 05 1 13 000
NUTS = DEA13
LOCODE = DE ESS
Gliederung = 9 districts, 50 boroughs
Website = [http://www.essen.de/ www.essen.de]
Bürgermeister = Dr. Wolfgang Reiniger
Bürgermeistertitel = Oberbürgermeister
Partei = CDU
ruling_party1 = CDU
ruling_party2 = GreenEssen (pronounced|ˈɛsən) is a
city in the center of theRuhr Area inNorth Rhine-Westphalia ,Germany . Located on theRuhr River, its population of approximately 579,000 (as of June 30, 2008) makes it the 7th-or-8th-largest-city in Germany. The city was appointedEuropean Capital of Culture for 2010 on behalf of the whole Ruhr Area.Formerly one of Germany's most important coal and steel centers and historically linked to the centuries-old
Krupp family iron works, the city has developed a strongtertiary sector of industry and (sometimes together with nearbyDüsseldorf ) claims to be the "desk of the Ruhr area" [http://www.essen.de/Dokumente/Download%20Bau-%20und%20Immobilienwirtschaft%20deutsch_2006.pdf ("Schreibtisch des Ruhrgebiets")] . It is home to 13 of the 100 largest Germancorporations and seat to several of the region's authorities.In 1958, the city was chosen to serve as the seat to a Roman Catholic Diocese (often referred to as "Ruhrbistum" or "diocese of the Ruhr"). In early 2003, the universities of Essen and its neighboring city of Duisburg (both established in 1972) were merged into the
University of Duisburg-Essen with campuses in both cities and auniversity hospital in Essen.Geography
Location, neighboring communes and general geography
The City of Monessen, PA, situated along the
Monongahela River , was named after the river and Essen. [http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_497856.html]Industry and infrastructure
Major companies based in Essen
Essen is seat to several large companies, among them the
ThyssenKrupp industrial conglomerate which is also registered inDuisburg and originates from a 1999 merger between Duisburg-based "Thyssen AG" and Essen-based Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp. The largest company only registered in Essen is Germany's second-largestelectric utility RWE AG. Other major companies include Germany's largest construction companyHochtief AG , as well as ALDI Nord,Evonik Industries , Arcandor AG, Medion AG and Deichmann, Europe's largest shoe retailer. With Eon-Ruhrgas, Germany's largest gas company also has its seat in Essen.The Coca-Cola Company had also originally established their German headquarters in Essen (around 1930), where it remained until 2003, when it was moved to the capitalBerlin .Fairs
The city's fair grounds host some 50 trade fairs each year. With around 530.000 visitors each year,
Essen Motor Show , the top internationalcar tuning fair, is by far the largest event held there. Other important fairs open to the consumers includeSPIEL , the world's biggest consumer fair for gaming and also occasion of the presentation of theEssen Feather and of theDeutscher Spiele Preis , "Techno-Classica" (vintage cars ) and one of the leading fairs for equestrian sports, "Equitana", held every two years. Important fairs restricted to professionals include "Security" (security and fire protection), "IPM" (gardening) and "E-World" (energy and water).Media
The
Westdeutscher Rundfunk has a studio in Essen, which is responsible for the centralRuhr Area . Each day, it produces a 30-minute regional evening news magazine (called "Lokalzeit Ruhr"), a 5-minute afternoon news program, and several radio news programs. A local broadcasting station went "on-the-air" in the late 1990s. The WAZ Media Group is one of the most important (print) media companies in Europe and publishes the Ruhr Area's two most important daily newspapers,Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ; 580.000 copies) and "Neue Ruhr/Rhein Zeitung" (NRZ; 180.000 copies). In Essen, the WAZ Group also publishes the local "Borbecker Nachrichten" (at times Germany's largest local newspaper) and "Werdener Nachrichten", both of which are formerly independent weekly newspapers for parts of Essen. Additionally, Axel Springer run a printing facility for their boulevard-style daily paperBild in Essen.Education
One renowned educational institution in Essen is the
Folkwang Academy , a University of the Arts founded in 1927, which is headquartered in Essen and has additional facilities in Duisburg,Bochum andDortmund .The University of Duisburg-Essen, which resulted from a 2003 merger of the universities of Essen and Duisburg, is one of Germany's "youngest" universities. One of its primary research areas is "urban systems" (i.e., sustainable development, logistics and transportation), a theme largely inspired by the highly urbanized Ruhr area. Other fields include
nanotechnology ,discrete mathematics and "education in the 21st century". Another university in Essen is the private "Fachhochschule für Oekonomie und Management", a university of applied sciences with over 6000 students and branches in 15 other major cities throughout Germany.Medicine
Essen offers a highly diversified health care system with more than 1,350 resident doctors and almost 6,000 beds in 13 hospitals, including a university hospital. The university hospital dates back to 1909, when the city council established a municipal hospital; although it was largely destroyed during
World War II , it was later rebuilt, and finally gained the title of a university hospital in 1963. It focuses on (West German Heart Centre Essen),oncology and transplantation medicine, with the department ofbone marrow transplant ation being the second-largest of its kind in the world.Transportation
The road network of Essen consists of 3,227 streets, which in total have a length of convert|1595|km|mi|0|abbr=on.
Freeways
The Ruhrschnellweg (A40) runs directly through the city, dividing it roughly in half. A tunnel was built in the 1970s, when the then-
Bundesstraße was upgraded toAutobahn standards, so that the A40 is hidden from public view in the inner-city district near the main station. As with most freeways in theRuhr Area , the Ruhrschnellweg suffers from congestion during rush hours, which is why many people in the area do not call it Ruhrschnellweg (Ruhr fast way) but nicknamed it "Ruhrschleichweg" (Ruhr crawling way). Other majorAutobahn s include the A52, which (coming from Duesseldorf) enters the city limits atKettwig , continues past the fairground through the southern borough of Rüttenscheid, and then merges with the Ruhrschnellweg at theAutobahndreieck Essen-Ost junction. A proposed extension to replace B224 in the northern boroughs has not yet been realized.In the northern borough of Karnap, the A42 briefly touches Essen territory, serving as an interconnection between the neighboring cities ofOberhausen andGelsenkirchen and destinations beyond.Public transport
Local transport is carried out by
Essener Verkehrs-AG , a public company operating theEssen Stadtbahn (partly with usedDocklands Light Rail stock), 7 tram and 48 bus lines (83 and convert|459|km|mi|0|abbr=on total length, respectively). As a speciality, Essen has a Spurbus guided bus line on the median of the A40 autobahn connecting the city centre to the borough of Kray, as well as aStadtbahn line on the median of the same autobahn leading towards Mülheim.Via
Essen Hauptbahnhof , the city is connected to theInterCityExpress network of high-speed trains and the general long distance networks operated byDeutsche Bahn . Minor so-called "Regionalbahnhöfe" (regional railway stations) are situated in the boroughs of Altenessen, Borbeck, Kray (south) and Steele, and 20 furtherS-Bahn stations in the whole urban area. The first railway line to run over now-Essen territory was theKöln-Mindener Eisenbahn , which opened in 1847 with a stop at Altenessen. The station still exists, though it was renamed from "Essen" to "Essen-Altenessen" when theBergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn fromMülheim an der Ruhr toBochum opened in 1862.All local and DB regional traffic is subject to the fare structure of the VRR transportation association.
Sights in Essen
Zollverein Industrial Complex
Coal mine (built in 1932, closed in 1986) and coking plant (built in 1961, closed in 1993). Visitors now have access to the precincts, which frequently house temporary art exhibitions. Once the largest sub-surface coal mine in the world, it has been awarded
World Cultural Heritage status by UNESCO.Villa Hügel
Built at the end of the 19th century by industrial magnate
Alfred Krupp as a representative seat to his family, the real estate register solely lists the 269-room mansion (convert|8100|m2|sqft|-1|abbr=on|disp=/) surrounded by a park of convert|28|ha|acre|1|abbr=on| as a single-family house. Today, the mansion houses exhibitions and music concerts.Essen Cathedral
A 14th-century cathedral with a
westwork andcrypt from the 10th century, rebuilt in 1958. It is not spectacular in appearance, but has some exquisite artworks from around 1000 AD on display in the attached treasure house: a crown of Emperor Otto III and the oldest preserved sculpture of the Virgin Mary in the world ("Goldene Madonna", commonly referred to as "Essen sein Schatz", to translate literally "Essen its treasure").Alte Synagoge The Jewish community inaugurated the
synagogue in 1913. Destroyed by fire in the Nazi pogroms of 1938, it was restored after World War II. It stands as the largest synagogue north of theAlps .Essen city hall
Germany's highest city hall (convert|106|m|ft|0|abbr=on|disp=/), built from 1971 to 1979. Free guided tours offer a view from the 22nd floor, overlooking the city from convert|100|m|ft|-1|abbr=on above ground.
Limbecker Platz
The shopping mall is one of the largest shopping malls in Germany. Because the shopping center is still under construction, only the first part was opened. On March, 13th 2008 the first part was opened with 100 shops covering 35,000 square meters. It was prior to these new developments the northernmost point of Germany's first designated pedestrian-only inner city shopping area. The "Limbecker Strasse" connects it with the peripherie of "Kennedyplatz" (the heart of the city) and with "Kettwiger Strasse", the southern leg of beforesaid pedestrian zone which leads to the main railway station called "Essen Hauptbahnhof".
[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limbecker_Platz german Article "Limbecker Platz"]
RWE tower The 2nd-highest skyscraper in
North Rhine Westphalia and corporate headquarters of the second largest electric power company in Germany (afterE.ON )RWE AG , situated across the street from the Aalto theatre (Opernplatz 1).Aalto Theater
Popular opera house designed by Finnish architect
Alvar Aalto , opened in 1988.Essen-Werden
Once a town of its own, it became a borough of Essen in 1929; the center of the town has partly retained its medieval townscape with many pubs and restaurants. It stands near the Lake Baldeney and hosts the Folkwang College of Music and Performing Arts.
Kettwig
Located south of the Ruhr river, and also once a town of its own, it was incorporated in 1975. Until today, residents of Kettwig can only be called using an area code different from that of the rest of Essen. Additionally (allegedly because of relatively high church tax incomes), the Archbishop of Cologne managed to keep Kettwig part of the
Archbishopric of Cologne , whereas all other parts of Essen and some neighbouring cities constitute the Diocese of Essen ("Ruhrbistum").Notable residents
*
Mille Petrozza (born 1966)ndash musician (Guitarist,Vocalist in German Thrash metal bandKreator )
*Christian Keller (born 1972)ndash medley and freestyle swimmer
*Jens Lehmann (born 1969)ndash German footballer, goalkeeper
*Frank Mill (born 1958)ndash German footballer
*Diether Krebs (born 1947)ndash actor and comedian
*Jürgen Bartsch (born 1946)ndash serial killer
*Otto Rehhagel (born 1938)ndash German footballer and football coach
*Elisabeth Volkmann (born 1936)ndash actress and voice actor
*Alfred Herrhausen (born 1930)ndash banker
*Helmut Rahn (born 1929)ndash German football legend
*Uta Ranke-Heinemann (born 1927)ndash theologian and author
*Theo Albrecht (born 1922)ndash entrepreneur
*Hildegard Hamm-Brücher (born 1921)ndash politician
*Karl Albrecht (born 1920)ndash entrepreneur
*Gunter d'Alquen (born 1910)ndash publisher
* Peter Anders (born 1908)ndash singer
*Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach (born 1907)ndash member of theKrupp dynasty
*Heinz Rühmann (born 1902)ndash actor
*Josef Terboven (born 1898)ndash Nazi leader
*Franz Blücher (born 1896)ndash politician
*Carl Humann (born 1839)ndash discoverer of thePergamon Altar .
*Alfred Krupp (born 1812)ndash member of the Krupp dynasty
*Karl Baedeker (born 1801)ndash publisher
*Johann Julius Hecker (born 1707 in Werden, todayEssen-Werden )ndash educator
*Johan van Galen (born 1604)ndash commodore in the navy of the United Provinces of the Netherlands
*Jan Lehmkamper ndash musician (X-Fusion/Noisuf-X/Kombat Unit)References
* Most sections of this article are translations from the German Wikipedia. The versions used can be found under the following three links: [http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Essen&oldid=22493083] , [http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Essen&oldid=24508847] and [http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Essen&oldid=30272114] . The original authors of the German language version can be found [http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Essen&action=history here]
Footnotes
External links
* [http://www.essen.de/ Official city website]
* [http://www.stadtpanoramen.de/en/essen/essen.html Essen City Panoramas] — Panoramic Views and virtual Tours
* [http://germany.mygreatworld.com/West/North%20Rhine%20-%20Westphalia/Cities/Essen/ Photos & Impressions of Essen]
* [http://www.heinzalbers.org/kettwig.htm Pictures from Kettwig]
* [http://www.world-shots.com/world_en144-1532.html World Cities Images. Germany. Essen]
* [http://sites-of-memory.de/main/location.html#essen Memorials in Essen at sites-of-memory.de]
* [http://www.conruhr.org/ ConRuhr - Academic Liaison Office for Universities of Duisburg-Essen, Dortmund, Bochum]
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