Viersen

Infobox German Location
Art = Stadt
Name = Viersen
Wappen = Wappen Viersen.pnglat_deg = 51 |lat_min = 15 |lat_sec = 22
lon_deg = 6 |lon_min = 23 |lon_sec = 50
Lageplan =
Bundesland = Nordrhein-Westfalen
Regierungsbezirk = Düsseldorf
Kreis = Viersen
Höhe = 40
Fläche = 91.07
Einwohner = 76479
Stand = 2005-12-31
PLZ = 41747–41751
PLZ-alt = 4060
Vorwahl = 0 21 62
Kfz = VIE
Gemeindeschlüssel = 05 1 66 032
Gliederung = 4
Adresse = Rathausmarkt 1
41747 Viersen
Website = [http://www.viersen.de www.viersen.de]
Bürgermeister = Günter Thönnessen
Partei = SPD

Viersen is the capital of the district of Viersen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Geography

Viersen is situated approximately 8 km north-west of Mönchengladbach, 15 km south-west of Krefeld and 20 km east of Venlo.

Division of the town

The city of Viersen is made up of three (formerly independent) cities: Süchteln, Dülken and Viersen.

Economy

The companies Mars Incorporated (chocolate-bars) and the "Kaiser's Tengelmann AG" (malls) are situated in one of Viersen's industrial districts named Dülken-Mackenstein.

Culture

Recurring events

* International Jazz Festival in Viersen's Festival Hall (Festhalle). "September"
* The World Championships of Carom Billards take place in Viersen's Festival Hall (Festhalle). "March"
* Big Carnival Parades in all 3 city parts. The one in Dülken is one of the biggest and most traditional Parades in North Rhine-Westphalia. "February"
* The "Schöppenmarkt" in Dülken, a type of flea/junk market, which takes place on the day after the last Carnival parade, is one of Germany's biggest. "February"
* Big free-of-charge flea market in the Viersen's pedestrian zone where only children are allowed to sell. Biggest market of this type in Germany. "Summer"
* "Viersen blüht" ("Viersen is blooming") is a voluntary initiative which places arrangements and sculptures of flowers all over the city's pedestrian zone. "Summer"
* International Biker Meeting, organized by the local biker-club " [http://www.mc-viersen.de/ MC Viersen 1980 e.V.] ". "2nd weekend each September"
*Viersen Jazz Festival. "4th weekend each September"
* Big kite-flying-festival. "Autumn"
* Eier & Speck Festival ("Eggs & Bacon Festival") is an Alternative/Punk- and Indierock-Festival, grounded in 2006 by the singer of the local Band "Ranzig", Christoph Tappeser ("Tappi") and is organized since 2006 every year in summer at a forest-area, called "Hoher Busch". Line-up for 2008 were Clawfinger (Sweden), Knorkator (Berlin), The Shanes, Blue Babies, Custard Pies and others. 3000 visitors came in 2008 and the tickets included the shows, camping and breakfast. "July or August"

Twin towns

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External links

* [http://www.viersen.de Official site] de icon
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kempen,_Germany Kempen, Germany]