This article is about the town Alsdorf in NRW Germany, for other meanings of Alsdorf you can have a look at Alsdorf (disambiguation)

Alsdorf (disambiguation)

Alsdorf may refer to the following places in Germany:*Alsdorf, a town in the district of Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia*Alsdorf, Altenkirchen, a municipality in the district of Altenkirchen, Rhineland-Palatinate...

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Alsdorf (ˈalsdɔʁf) is a municipality in the district of Aachen

Aachen (district)

The district of Aachen is a district in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Heinsberg, Düren, Euskirchen, and also the Netherlands province of Limburg and the Belgian province of Liège.- History :...

, in North Rhine-Westphalia

North Rhine-Westphalia

North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. Until the 21st century Alsdorf was a mining area, but by now many service companies have established themselves in Alsdorf. Besides, Alsdorf has an indoor arena, a cinema, a mining museum and a zoo.

Geography

Alsdorf is located near the border triangle Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

/Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

/Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 in the Western of Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. Communes bordering Alsdorf are Baesweiler

Baesweiler

Baesweiler is a municipality in the district of Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.- Neighbouring municipalities:* Geilenkirchen* Linnich* Aldenhoven* Alsdorf* Herzogenrath* Übach-Palenberg- Division of the municipality :...

, Aldenhoven

Aldenhoven

Aldenhoven is a municipality in the district of Düren in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located approx. 5 km south-west of Jülich, 5 km north of Eschweiler and 20 km north-east of Aachen.- Notable people :...

, Eschweiler

Eschweiler

Eschweiler is a municipality in the district of Aachen in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany on the river Inde, near the German-Belgian-Dutch frontier, and about 15 km east of Aachen and 50 km west of Cologne.- History :...

, Würselen

Würselen

Würselen is a town in the district of Aachen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Coat of arms:The coat of arms show the eagle of the coat of arms of Aachen in the topleft corner. The second quarter shows the coat of arms of the Rhine Province, however the bend also represents the river Wurm which...

, Herzogenrath

Herzogenrath

Herzogenrath is a municipality in the district of Aachen in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It borders the Dutch town of Kerkrade, the national border in one section running along the middle of a main road.-History:...

 und Übach-Palenberg

Übach-Palenberg

Übach-Palenberg is a town in the Heinsberg district of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. -Geography:The town is located at the border with the Netherlands, at approx. 10 km east of Heerlen and 15 km north of Aachen. The river Wurm flows through the area. The town has an area of...

. Alsdorf belongs to the district of Aachen. One of Alsdorfs sights is the old Castle and the mineing museum.

Waters

• Begauer stream
• Broicher stream
• Hoengener stream
• Merzstream
• Schaufenberger stream
• Siefengraben
• Euchener stream
• Alsdorf pond
• Mariadorf pond

History

The first time that Alsdorf was mentioned in a document was in the year 1191 under the name „alstorp“.

Until 1789 Alsdorf belonged to the duchy of Limburg

Duchy of Limburg

The Duchy of Limburg, situated in the Low Countries between the river Meuse and the city of Aachen, was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. Its territory is now divided between the Belgian provinces of Liège and Limburg , the Dutch province of Limburg , and a small part of North Rhine-Westphalia in...

 a part of the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

.

In the year 1818 Royal Prussia

Royal Prussia

Royal Prussia was a Region of the Kingdom of Poland and of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth . Polish Prussia included Pomerelia, Chełmno Land , Malbork Voivodeship , Gdańsk , Toruń , and Elbląg . It is distinguished from Ducal Prussia...

 formed districts and administrative regions and Alsdorf belonged for the first time in history completly to one of this districts.

The main employer in the past was the "Mine Anna". On October 21st,1930 happend the worst mine disaster in the history of Alsdorf 271 miners died. The cole extraction was closed at the end of 1983.

On January 1st,1972 Alsdorf, Bettendorf and Hoengen were combined to the new town Alsdorf.

Districts

Alsdorf is divided in 16 districts:

Alsdorf-Mitte Begau Bettendorf Blumenrath

Broicher Siedlung Busch Duffesheide Hoengen

Kellersberg Mariadorf Neuweiler Ofden

Schaufenberg Siedlung Ost Warden Zopp

Alsdorf (downtown)

• Alsdorf castle
• Mine Anna
  • Water tower of mine Anna
• Ottenfeld castle
• Alsdorf civic center (previously Euro-Musical-Hall, musicals like Gaudí and Just one World were played there)
• Alsdorf zoo
• Water tower CineTower Alsdorf

Blumenrath

• Blumenrather cross
• Secondary modern school Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi
• Blumenrath estate

Mariadorf

• previously station Maria mine
• Church St. Mariae Empfängnis
• Middle school Marienschule
• Memorial
• Old major house
• Bus station
• Broicher mill

Hoengen

• Milestone

Economy and infastructure

For a long time coal mining was the heart of Alsdorfs economy. The last mine was closed in the 90s. Besides accured companys, which either used the closeness to RWTH Aachen

RWTH Aachen

RWTH Aachen University is a research university located in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany with roughly 33,000 students enrolled in 101 study programs....

 or which saw the favourable location near the boarders to Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 and theNetherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 as advantage.

Alsdorfs biggest employeer is the Cinram GmbH with appx. 1200 employees in district of Schaufenberg. This company produces daily up to 2 Millionen DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

s, Blu-rays

Blu-ray Disc

Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...

 and CDs

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

 , packaged and delivered to well known customers in whole Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. The company was founded in 1975 by Warner Music and sold in 2003 to the Canadian stock cooperation Cinram International.
customers are e.g. well known record labels and Es media concerns like Warner Music, Twentieth Century Fox and Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures

-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...

.

Traffic

Alsdorf is located central in the heart of Europe.
In a distance of appx. 200km the most important economic centeres of the European Union are achievable.
The town lies central in the tri-boarder region Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 / Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 / Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

.
The nearest airports are Maastricht Aachen Airport

Maastricht Aachen Airport

Maastricht Aachen Airport is a regional airport located northeast of the city of Maastricht, in the town of Beek, both municipalities in the Limburg province in the Netherlands. The airport is also northwest of the city of Aachen, Germany....

, Cologne Bonn Airport

Cologne Bonn Airport

Cologne/Bonn Airport is an international airport located in the district of Porz in the city of Cologne, Germany, and is surrounded by the Wahner Heide nature reserve. The airport is centrally located in the Cologne/Bonn Region southeast of Cologne city centre and northeast of Bonn...

 and Düsseldorf International Airport

Düsseldorf International Airport

Düsseldorf International Airport is the largest airport in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and the third largest airport in Germany, handling 18.99 million passengers in 2010....

Alsdorf has a direct connection to Bundesautobahn 4 and Bundesautobahn 44

Bundesautobahn 44

is a German Autobahn. It consists of three main-parts and a few smaller parts. It begins in Aachen at the German-Belgian border and ends near Kassel. Before the German unification it was an unimportant provincial-motorway but after this event it became an integral part of the German highway-system...

 both are German freeways.

Furthermore Alsdorf provides a very good bus system, every part of Alsdorf or Aachen

Aachen

Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...

is achievable with the busses of ASEAG, the local bus company.

Sice 2005 Alsdorf is connected with the regional train and the railway network is extended steadily, hence you can reach Mariadorf since 2011 by regional train.