Düsseldorf
Encyclopedia
Düsseldorf ˈdʏsl̩dɔɐf is the capital city of the German
state of North Rhine-Westphalia
and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr
metropolitan region.
Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion
and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis
, the city is headquarter to five Fortune Global 500
and several DAX
companies. Messe Düsseldorf
organizes nearly one fifth of all world‘s premier trade shows.
Culturally, Düsseldorf is known for its academy of fine arts (Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
, e.g. Joseph Beuys
, Emanuel Leutze
, August Macke
, Gerhard Richter
, Sigmar Polke
and Andreas Gursky
), its influence on early electronic music (Kraftwerk
) and its large Japanese community. As a city by the river Rhine, Düsseldorf is a stronghold for Rhenish Carnival celebrations. Every year in July more than 4.5 million people visit the city's Largest Fair on the Rhine
funfair.
As the seventh most populous city in Germany by population within city limits and an urban population of 1.5 million, Düsseldorf is one of the country's five global cities
. The Mercer's 2009 Quality of Living survey
of cities with the highest quality of life
ranked Düsseldorf sixth worldwide and first in Germany.
basin, where the delta of the River Düssel
flows into the Rhine. The city lies on the east side of the Rhine, except District 4
(Oberkassel
, Niederkassel
, Heerdt
and Lörick
).
Across the Rhine, the city of Neuss
stands on the delta of the Erft
river. Düsseldorf lies southwest of the Ruhr
urban area, and in the middle of the Rhine-Ruhr
metropolitan region.
Düsseldorf is built entirely on alluvium
, mud, sand, clay and occasionally gravel. The highest point in Düsseldorf is the top of Sandberg in the far eastern part of the city (Hubbelrath
borough) at 165 metres (541 ft). The lowest point is at the far northern end in Wittlaer
borough where the Schwarzbach enters the Rhine, with an average elevation of 28 metres (92 ft).
the City of Duisburg
, the District of Mettmann
(Ratingen
, Mettmann
, Erkrath
, Hilden
, Langenfeld
, and Monheim
), and the District of Neuss
(Dormagen
, Neuss, and Meerbusch
).
, Düsseldorf has cool winters and warm summers, with an average yearly temperature of 11.5 °C (53 °F) and about 77 centimetres (30 in) of rainfall. The dominant wind direction is from the south or southeast with velocities in the range of 3 to 4 m/s (7–9 mph), with gusts of 3.5 −4.8 m/s (8–10.7 mph). The wind is calm (defined as being under 2 m/s or 4.5 mph) about 35% of the time, more frequently at night and in the winter.
was strengthening its position throughout Europe, a few Germanic tribes
clung in marsh
y territory off the eastern banks of the Rhine River.
In the 7th and 8th centuries, the odd farming
or fishing
settlement could be found at the point where the small river Düssel
flows into the Rhine. It was from such settlements that the city of Düsseldorf grew.
The first written mention of the town of Düsseldorf (then called Dusseldorp in the local Low Rhenish dialect) dates back to 1135. Under Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa
the small town of Kaiserswerth to the north of Düsseldorf became a well fortified outpost, where soldiers kept a watchful eye on every movement on the Rhine. Kaiserswerth eventually became a suburb of Düsseldorf in 1929.
In 1186 Düsseldorf came under the rule of Berg
. The dukes of Berg moved their seat to the town in 1386. 14 August 1288 is one of the most important dates in the history of Düsseldorf as it was on this day that the sovereign Count Adolf V of Berg granted the village on the banks of the Düssel the Town privileges
.
Prior to that announcement, a bloody struggle for power had taken place between the Archbishop of Cologne and the count of Berg, culminating in the Battle of Worringen
. The Archbishop of Cologne's forces were wiped out by the forces of the count of Berg who were supported by citizens and farmers of Cologne and Düsseldorf, paving the way for Düsseldorf's elevation to city status, which is commemorated today by a monument on the Burgplatz. In fact, the custom of turning cartwheels is credited to the children of Düsseldorf. There are variations of the origin of the cartwheeling children, but the most famous is the story. Today the symbol (Der Radschläger) represents the story and every year the Düsseldorfers celebrate by having a cartwheeling contest.
After this battle the relationship between the two cities deteriorated, because they were commercial rivals. It is often said that there is a kind of hostility between the citizens of Cologne and Düsseldorf. Today, it finds its expression mainly in a humorous form (especially during the Rhineland Karneval
) and in sports.
A market square
sprang up on the banks of the Rhine and the square was protected by city walls
on all four sides. In 1380, Düsseldorf was made regional capital of the Duchy of Berg. During the following centuries several famous landmarks were built, including the Collegiate Church
of St. Lambertus. In 1609, the ducal line of the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg died out, and after a virulent struggle over succession, Jülich and Berg fell to the Wittelsbach Counts of Palatinate-Neuburg
, who made Düsseldorf their main domicile, even after they inherited the Electoral Palatinate, in 1685, becoming now Prince-elector
s as Electors Palatine.
Düsseldorf's growth was even more impressive under the leadership of Johann Wilhelm II
(r. 1690-1716) in the 18th century, also known to his people as Jan Wellem. Greatly influenced by his wife Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici
, the art lover designed a vast art gallery with a huge selection of paintings and sculptures that were housed in the Stadtschloss (city castle).
After the death of childless Jan Wellem, the flourishing royal capital fell on hard times again, especially after Elector Charles Theodore
inherited Bavaria and moved the electoral court to Munich. With him he took the art collection
, which became part of what is now the Alte Pinakothek
in Munich. Destruction and poverty struck Düsseldorf after the Napoleonic Wars
. Napoleon made Berg a Grand Duchy
and Düsseldorf its capital. J. C. C. Devaranne
, a leader of Solingen
's resistance to Napoleon's conscription decrees, was executed here in 1813. After the defeat of Napoleon, the whole Rhineland
including Berg was given to the Kingdom of Prussia
in 1815. The parliament of the Rhine Province
was established in Düsseldorf later.
By the mid-19th century, Düsseldorf enjoyed a revival thanks to the Industrial Revolution
as the city boasted 100,000 inhabitants by 1882; the figure doubled in 1892.
In 1920, Düsseldorf became the centre for the General Strike. On 15 April 1920 45 delegates of the German Miners Union were murdered by the Freikorps
.
It was a target of strategic bombing during World War II
, particularly during the RAF bombing campaign against the Ruhr industry in 1943
when over 700 bombers were used in a single night. Raids continued late into the war. As part of the campaign against German oil facilities
, the RAF raid of February 20/21 1945 on the Rhenania Ossag refinery in the Reisholz district of Düsseldorf halted oil production there.
The Allied ground advance into Germany reached Düsseldorf in mid-April 1945. The US 97th Infantry Division easily captured the city 18 April 1945 in the absence of organized German resistance.
In 1946 Düsseldorf was made capital of the new federal state
of North Rhine-Westphalia
. The city's reconstruction proceeded at a frantic pace and the economic transformation saw Düsseldorf grow into the wealthy city of trade, administration and service industries that it is today.
The largest ethnic minority
groups are Turks, Greeks
, and Italians.
Düsseldorf has the third-largest Jewish community in Germany, with about 7,600 members: more than 1% of the city's population.
Düsseldorf and its surroundings have the third-largest Japanese community in Europe and the largest in Germany (about 11,000 people).
Number of minorities (1st and 2nd generation) in Düsseldorf by country of origin per 31. December 2007
Düsseldorf is not only widely known as a centre of German advertising and fashion
industries: in the last few years the city on the Rhine has become one of the top telecommunications centres in Germany. There are 18 internet service provider
s located in the capital of North-Rhine Westphalia. With two of the four big German providers of mobile frequencies, D2 Vodafone
and E-Plus
, Düsseldorf leads the German mobile phone
market. There are also many foreign trading centres in Düsseldorf such as NTT
, Ericsson
, Sandvik
, Nokia
and GTS. Eurowings
and formerly independent LTU International
, are two airlines, with headquartered in the city.
Many of the internet companies in Düsseldorf have their roots in the world of advertising: there are 400 advertising agencies
in Düsseldorf, among them three of the largest in Germany: BBDO Group
, Publicis Group
and Grey Group. A number of affiliates of foreign agencies deserve mention as well, such as Ogilvy & Mather
, Dentsu
, Hakuhodo
, Digital District and DDB
. There are also about 200 publishing houses
in Düsseldorf.
In Düsseldorf there are about 170 national and international financial institutions
, and about 130 insurance agencies, and one of the biggest German stock exchange
s.
Several other major companies have their headquarters in the city: Peek & Cloppenburg
(fashion), L'Oréal
Germany (Cosmetics and Beauty); Henkel
AG & Co. KGaA (Branded Consumer Goods and Industrial technologies); E.ON
(energy); ThyssenKrupp
(metallurgy); Metro
(wholesale, retail); Ergo (insurance); LTU
(air transport), Esprit Holdings
(fashion, headquarters in Ratingen near Düsseldorf), Cognis
(chemicals, headquarter in Monheim near Düsseldorf, but production mainly in Düsseldorf).
Daimler AG builds the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
and Volkswagen Crafter
light commercial vehicles in Düsseldorf.
Since the 1960s, there has been a strong relationship between the city and Japan
. Many Japanese banks and corporations have their European headquarters in Düsseldorf - so many that Düsseldorf has the third largest Japanese community in Europe, after London
and Paris
.
The "Kö", which stands for Königsallee
("King's Avenue"), is a popular shopping destination. Some of the most reputed jewellery shops, designer labels, and galleries have their stores here. The Kö has about the highest rents for shops and bureaus in Germany. Messe Düsseldorf
organizes several international congresses and trade fairs throughout the year, most notably boot Düsseldorf
Boat Show, drupa
Printing & Media and cpd Fashion Show.
, Rheinische Post
, Wirtschaftswoche, Deutsches Wirtschaftsblatt and VDI-Nachrichten are published in Düsseldorf. Almost all of these papers are available online on the Internet. Renowned filmmaking companies, such as Germany's biggest cinema enterprise, the Riech-Group, and TV channels such as WDR, ZDF
, and QVC
are also located in Düsseldorf.
Düsseldorf International Airport
, also referred to as Rhein-Ruhr Airport, is located eight kilometres (5 mi) from the city centre and can easily be reached by train or the S-Bahn
urban railway. There is a long-distance train station served by regional and national services, which is linked to the airport by the SkyTrain, an automatic people mover
. Another station situated under the terminal building carries the S-Bahn line (S11) to Düsseldorf Hbf, the city's central station and to Cologne
as well as a few selected night services.
After Frankfurt and Munich, Düsseldorf International is Germany's third largest commercial airport
, with 18.6 million passengers annually. The airport offers 180 destinations on 4 continents, and is served by 70 airlines. The airport buildings were partly destroyed by a devastating fire caused by welding works in 1996, killing 17 people. It was completely rebuilt and the Skytrain installed.
The city is a major hub in the Deutsche Bahn
(DB) railway network. More than 1,000 trains stop in Düsseldorf daily. Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof
at Konrad-Adenauer-Platz is located in Düsseldorf-Stadtmitte
. Several Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn
lines connect Düsseldorf to other cities of Rhine-Ruhr. Local Düsseldorf Straßenbahn
and light rail
Düsseldorf Stadtbahn
traffic, as well as local bus traffic, is carried out by the city-owned Rheinbahn
which operates within the VRR
public transport
system. The light rail system also serves neighbouring cities and is partially operated underground.
The Central Station and the Airport Station (Flughafen-Bahnhof) are connected to the national and European high-speed systems
(Intercity/Eurocity, IC/EC and InterCityExpress
).
North Rhine-Westphalia has the densest network of autobahns in Germany and Düsseldorf is directly accessible via the A3, A44
, A46, A52
, A57
, A59
and A524
.
and his wife Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici
of Tuscany, were the patrons of Düsseldorf's first significant cultural activities in the 17th and 18th centuries. Heinrich Heine
, whose 200th birthday was celebrated in 1997, Clara and Robert Schumann
as well as Felix Mendelssohn
are the most prominent artists related to the city. Artistic impulses were often born in the Academy of Fine Arts and the names of Paul Klee
, Joseph Beuys
, Gerhard Richter
as well as Albert Bierstadt
are associated with the institution (Düsseldorf School
). The Düsseldorf cultural scene comprises traditional and avant-garde
, classical and glamorous. The world famous state art collection of North Rhine-Westphalia, the highly acclaimed Deutsche Oper am Rhein
(opera), and the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus (theatre), artistic home of Gustaf Gründgens
, are major elements of Düsseldorf's reputation as a centre of the fine arts.
, a hoppy beer
which translates as old [style] beer, a reference to the pre-lager
brewing method of using a warm top-fermenting yeast like British pale ales. Over time the Alt yeast adjusted to lower temperatures, and the Alt brewers would store or lager the beer after fermentation, leading to a cleaner, crisper beer.
The name "altbier" first appeared in the 19th century to differentiate the beers of Düsseldorf from the new pale lager
that was gaining a hold on Germany. Brewers in Düsseldorf used the pale malts that were used for the modern pale lagers, but retained the old ("alt") method of using warm fermenting yeasts.
The first brewery to use the name Alt was Schumacher which opened in 1838. The founder, Mathias Schumacher, allowed the beer to mature in cool conditions in wooden casks for longer than normal, and laid the foundation for the modern alt - amber coloured and lagered. The result is a pale beer that has some of the lean dryness of a lager but with fruity notes as well.
At present, there are four brewpubs in Düsseldorf which brew Altbier on premises: Füchschen, Schumacher, Schlüssel and Uerige. Three of the four are located in the Old Town (Altstadt); the other (Schumacher) is located between the Altstadt and the main rail station (Hauptbahnhof), and also maintains an establishment in the Altstadt, Goldener Kessel, directly across the street from Schlüssel.
Each produces a special, secret, seasonal "Sticke" version in small quantities, though the names vary: Schlüssel spells it "Stike", without the "c", while Schumacher calls its special beer "Latzenbier", meaning "slat beer", possibly because the kegs from which it was poured had been stored on raised shelves. Füchschen's seasonal is its Weihnachtsbier (Christmas beer), available in bottles starting mid-November, and served in the brewpub on Christmas Eve
.
" has been one of the most prominent political cabarets of Germany.
Düsseldorf's most famous contribution to the culture of modern popular music
is beyond doubt the avant-garde electronic music
band Kraftwerk
. Formed by a few Düsseldorf-born musicians, Kraftwerk
are internationally known as the most significant band in the history of post-war
German music
and as pioneers in electronic music. Internationally-known power metal
band Warlock
was formed in Düsseldorf in 1982. Their frontwoman, Doro Pesch
, has had a successful solo career in Europe and Asia since Warlock
ended. The punk band
Die Toten Hosen
, which is famous around the world, also the most popular singers in Germany Westernhagen and Heino
come from Düsseldorf. The electronic act D.A.F.
was formed in the city in 1978, as well as the electronic/industrial pioneers Die Krupps
in 1980. The experimental post-punk
group La Düsseldorf
was named after the city, for which it paid with a legal case in the early 1980s.
In the Oldtown (Altstadt) German and international tourists go out on the main street Bolkerstraße, while the local scene (students and creative people) prefers the bars on Ratinger Straße and Kurze Straße.
(also referred to as the "fifth season") which starts every year on 11 November at 11:11 a.m., and reaches its climax on Rosenmontag
(Rose Monday), featuring a huge parade through the streets of Düsseldorf. Karneval ends on Aschermittwoch (Ash Wednesday
). The Düsseldorf carnival is part of the traditional carnival festivities in the Rhineland.
(a beef roast and sometimes horse marinated for a few days in vinegar and spices served with gravy and raisins ) and Heaven and Earth
(Himmel und Äd) (black pudding with stewed apples mixed with mashed potato
es). In winter the people like to eat Muscheln Rheinischer Art (Rhenish-style mussels) as well as Reibekuchen
(fried potato pancake served with apple sauce). Also a special meal: Düsseldorfer Senfrostbraten (Steaks roasted with Düsseldorf mustard on top).
Together with the French city of Dijon
, Düsseldorf is known for its mustard
served in a traditional pot called "Mostertpöttche", which was eternalised in a still life
by Vincent van Gogh
in 1884.
have a "fierce regional rivalry". The rivalry includes carnival
parades, football, and beer
. People in Cologne prefer Kölsch
while people in Düsseldorf prefer Alt. Waiters and patrons will "scorn" and make a "mockery" of people who order Alt beer in Cologne and Kölsch in Düsseldorf. The rivalry has been described as a "love-hate relationship".
Düsseldorf's football team Fortuna Düsseldorf
, the German Champions of 1933, German Cup Winners of 1979, 1980 and European Cup Winners Cup finalists of 1979 competes in the second German league (2. Bundesliga
). Their new stadium, the Esprit arena, opened in January 2005 and has a capacity of 54,500. Düsseldorf is one of nine 1974 FIFA World Cup
cities and the Rochusclub Düsseldorf has hosted the tennis world team cup since 1978.
Other sports in Düsseldorf are ice hockey
(the DEG Metro Stars
, former DEG - Düsseldorfer Eislauf Gemeinschaft, which play in the new ISS-Dome) and American football
. The Düsseldorf Panther
are the most successful team in Germany with six national champion trophies and the Eurobowl 1995. In addition the Junior-Programm is the most successful youth-football program in Germany with thirteen national championship titles. Rhine Fire Düsseldorf
was an established team of the NFL Europe and won the World Bowl
two times in 1998 and 2000. Düsseldorf has a successful rugby union
team (Düsseldorf Dragons), who play in the regional NRW league and consistently finish with a top 3 position.
Table tennis
is also played (Borussia Düsseldorf - the most successful team in Germany with Timo Boll), as are handball
(HSG Düsseldorf), basketball
(Düsseldorf Giants), baseball
(Düsseldorf Senators) and dancing
(Rot-Weiß Düsseldorf).
It has about 20,000 students and a wide range of subjects in natural science
s, mathematics, computer science
s, philosophy, social sciences
, arts, languages, medicine, pharmacy, economy and the law.
Other academic institutions include
with:
Reading
, England
, since 1947, officially since 1988 Haifa
, Israel
Chemnitz
, Saxony
, Germany
Toulouse
, France
Warsaw
, Poland
Moscow
, Russia
Chongqing
, China
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...
state of 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...
and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr
Rhine-Ruhr
The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region is the largest metropolitan region in Germany with about 10,100,000 inhabitants. It is of polycentric nature and the only megacity in Germany. It covers an area of 7,110 square kilometers and lies entirely within the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia...
metropolitan region.
Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion
Fashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis
Blue Banana
The Blue Banana is a discontinuous corridor of urbanisation in Western Europe, with a population of around 110 million. It stretches approximately from North West England in the north to Milan in the south...
, the city is headquarter to five Fortune Global 500
Fortune Global 500
The Fortune Global 500 is a ranking of the top 500 corporations worldwide as measured by revenue. The list is compiled and published annually by Fortune magazine....
and several DAX
DAX
The DAX is a blue chip stock market index consisting of the 30 major German companies trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Prices are taken from the electronic Xetra trading system...
companies. Messe Düsseldorf
Messe Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf Messe is a trade fair ground and organizer, based in Düsseldorf, Germany. With a workforce of 1,459 employees worldwide and a total exhibition space of 285,000 sqm in Düsseldorf, the company is one of the largest in the industry...
organizes nearly one fifth of all world‘s premier trade shows.
Culturally, Düsseldorf is known for its academy of fine arts (Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
The Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, formerly Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, is the Arts Academy of the city of Düsseldorf. It is well known for having produced many famous artists, such as Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke, Thomas Demand, and Andreas Gursky...
, e.g. Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys was a German performance artist, sculptor, installation artist, graphic artist, art theorist and pedagogue of art.His extensive work is grounded in concepts of humanism, social philosophy and anthroposophy; it culminates in his "extended definition of art" and the idea of social...
, Emanuel Leutze
Emanuel Leutze
Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze was a German American history painter best known for his painting Washington Crossing the Delaware.-Philadelphia:...
, August Macke
August Macke
August Macke was one of the leading members of the German Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter . He lived during a particularly innovative time for German art which saw the development of the main German Expressionist movements as well as the arrival of the successive avant-garde movements which...
, Gerhard Richter
Gerhard Richter
Gerhard Richter is a German visual artist. Richter has simultaneously produced abstract and photorealistic painted works, as well as photographs and glass pieces, thus undermining the concept of the artist’s obligation to maintain a single cohesive style.- Biography :Gerhard Richter was born in...
, Sigmar Polke
Sigmar Polke
Sigmar Polke was a German painter and photographer.Polke experimented with a wide range of styles, subject matter and materials. In the 1970s, he concentrated on photography, returning to paint in the 1980s, when he produced abstract works created by chance through chemical reactions between paint...
and Andreas Gursky
Andreas Gursky
Andreas Gursky is a German visual artist known for his enormous architecture and landscape color photographs, often employing a high point of view...
), its influence on early electronic music (Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...
) and its large Japanese community. As a city by the river Rhine, Düsseldorf is a stronghold for Rhenish Carnival celebrations. Every year in July more than 4.5 million people visit the city's Largest Fair on the Rhine
Largest Fair on the Rhine
The Largest Fair on the Rhine is a fun fair in Düsseldorf, drawing more than 4 million visitors annually, is one of Germany’s biggest fun fairs. It takes place every third week in July on the left bank of the Rhine River, in the district Düsseldorf-Oberkassel, and features beer and food tents,...
funfair.
As the seventh most populous city in Germany by population within city limits and an urban population of 1.5 million, Düsseldorf is one of the country's five global cities
Metropolitan regions in Germany
The Metropolitan regions in Germany are eleven densely populated areas in the Federal Republic of Germany. They comprise the major German cities and their surrounding catchment areas and form the political, commercial and cultural centers of the country...
. The Mercer's 2009 Quality of Living survey
World's Most Livable Cities
The world's most liveable cities is an informal name given to any list of cities as they rank on a reputable annual survey of living conditions. Two examples are the Mercer Quality of Living Survey and The Economists World's Most Livable Cities .Liveability rankings are designed for use by...
of cities with the highest quality of life
Quality of life
The term quality of life is used to evaluate the general well-being of individuals and societies. The term is used in a wide range of contexts, including the fields of international development, healthcare, and politics. Quality of life should not be confused with the concept of standard of...
ranked Düsseldorf sixth worldwide and first in Germany.
Physical geography
Düsseldorf lies at the centre of the Lower RhineLower Rhine
The Lower Rhine flows from Bonn, Germany, to the North Sea at Hoek van Holland, Netherlands.Almost immediately after entering the Netherlands, the Rhine splits into many branches. The main branch is called the Waal which flows from Nijmegen to meet the river Meuse; after which it is called Merwede...
basin, where the delta of the River Düssel
Düssel
The Düssel is a small right tributary of the River Rhine in North Rhine Westphalia, Germany. Its source is between Wülfrath and Velbert. It flows westward through the Neander Valley where the fossils of the first Neanderthal man were found in 1856...
flows into the Rhine. The city lies on the east side of the Rhine, except District 4
District 4, Düsseldorf
District 4 is a city district of Düsseldorf, the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It covers an area of 12,80 square kilometres and has about 40,000 inhabitants....
(Oberkassel
Düsseldorf-Oberkassel
Oberkassel is a quartier of Düsseldorf, with a population of about 17,000 inhabitants. Oberkassel lies on the left side of the river Rhine, the opposite side of the central district of Düsseldorf....
, Niederkassel
Düsseldorf-Niederkassel
Niederkassel is an urban borough of Düsseldorf. It is on the left side of the river Rhine, bordering to Oberkassel and Lörick.Niederkassel was together with Oberkassel and Lörick a part of Heerdt until Heerdt became a part of Düsseldorf in 1909....
, Heerdt
Düsseldorf-Heerdt
Heerdt is one of the older parts of the city of Düsseldorf. Heerdt and its neighbouring quarters Oberkassel, Niederkassel and Lörick on the left side of the river Rhine, opposite to the other districts of Düsseldorf and the central district....
and Lörick
Düsseldorf-Lörick
Lörick is an urban borough of Düsseldorf, Germany. It is located on the left side of the river Rhine, bordering to the river, Niederkassel, Heerdt and Meerbusch. Lörick was a small village belonging to the office of Heerdt until there was a connection via the Oberkassel Bridge to Düsseldorf in 1898...
).
Across the Rhine, the city of Neuss
Neuss
Neuss is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the west bank of the Rhine opposite Düsseldorf. Neuss is the largest city within the Rhein-Kreis Neuss district and owes its prosperity to its location at the crossing of historic and modern trade routes. It is primarily known...
stands on the delta of the Erft
Erft
The Erft is a river in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It flows through the foothills of the Eifel, and joins the Lower Rhine . Its origin is near Nettersheim, and its mouth in Neuss-Grimlinghausen south of the Josef-Cardinal-Frings-bridge. The river is 103 km long, which is significantly...
river. Düsseldorf lies southwest of the Ruhr
Ruhr
The Ruhr is a medium-size river in western Germany , a right tributary of the Rhine.-Description:The source of the Ruhr is near the town of Winterberg in the mountainous Sauerland region, at an elevation of approximately 2,200 feet...
urban area, and in the middle of the Rhine-Ruhr
Rhine-Ruhr
The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region is the largest metropolitan region in Germany with about 10,100,000 inhabitants. It is of polycentric nature and the only megacity in Germany. It covers an area of 7,110 square kilometers and lies entirely within the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia...
metropolitan region.
Düsseldorf is built entirely on alluvium
Alluvium
Alluvium is loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel...
, mud, sand, clay and occasionally gravel. The highest point in Düsseldorf is the top of Sandberg in the far eastern part of the city (Hubbelrath
Düsseldorf-Hubbelrath
Hubbelrath is an urban bourough of Düsseldorf. It borders to Gerresheim, Mettmann, Erkrath and Ratingen.The name comes from the old estate Hupoldesroth, which was written mentioned first time in 950 A.C....
borough) at 165 metres (541 ft). The lowest point is at the far northern end in Wittlaer
Düsseldorf-Wittlaer
Wittlaer is an urban borough of Düsseldorf. It borders Stockum, Kalkum, Angermund, and the city of Duisburg. It is close to Düsseldorf Airport. Wittlaer has the lowest point in Düsseldorf, where the Schwarzbach flows into the river Rhine. It is 28 m above sea level.The history of Wittlaer started...
borough where the Schwarzbach enters the Rhine, with an average elevation of 28 metres (92 ft).
Adjacent cities and districts
The following districts and cities border Düsseldorf (clockwise starting from the north):the City of Duisburg
Duisburg
- History :A legend recorded by Johannes Aventinus holds that Duisburg, was built by the eponymous Tuisto, mythical progenitor of Germans, ca. 2395 BC...
, the District of Mettmann
Mettmann (district)
Mettmann is a Kreis in the middle of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring are the Ennepe-Ruhr and thedistrict-free cities Wuppertal, Solingen, Düsseldorf,Duisburg, Mülheim, Essen...
(Ratingen
Ratingen
Ratingen is a town in the district of Mettmann, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the northwestern part of Berg - about 12 km northeast of Düsseldorf...
, Mettmann
Mettmann
Mettmann is a Rhenish town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Mettmann, Germany's most densely populated rural district...
, Erkrath
Erkrath
Erkrath is a town in the district of Mettmann, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany-Geography:Erkrath is situated on the Düssel river, directly east of Düsseldorf and west of Wuppertal, close to the famous Neandertal....
, Hilden
Hilden
Hilden is a city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is situated in the District of Mettmann, west of Solingen and east of Düsseldorf on the right side of the Rhine. It is a middle sized industrial town with a forest and numerous attractions....
, Langenfeld
Langenfeld, Rhineland
Langenfeld is a town in North-Rhine-Westphalia in the district of Mettmann. The suburban city is located between Düsseldorf and Cologne...
, and Monheim
Monheim am Rhein
Monheim am Rhein is a town on the right bank of the river Rhine in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Monheim belongs to the district of Mettmann - with the southern suburbs of Düsseldorf to the north, and the Bergisches Land to the south...
), and the District of Neuss
Rhein-Kreis Neuss
Neuss is a Kreis in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Nearby are the urban districts Mönchengladbach, Krefeld, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Cologne, the districts Rhein-Erft-Kreis, Düren, Heinsberg and the district Viersen.-History:...
(Dormagen
Dormagen
Dormagen is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany in the Rhein-Kreis Neuss.-Geography:Dormagen is situated between Düsseldorf – Cologne – Mönchengladbach on the western bank of the river Rhine.-Division of the town:...
, Neuss, and Meerbusch
Meerbusch
Meerbusch, a town in Rhein-Kreis Neuss, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, has been an incorporated city since 1970. Meerbusch is the municipality with the second most income millionaires in North Rhine-Westphalia.- Geography :...
).
Climate
Like the rest of the lower, RhinelandRhineland
Historically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....
, Düsseldorf has cool winters and warm summers, with an average yearly temperature of 11.5 °C (53 °F) and about 77 centimetres (30 in) of rainfall. The dominant wind direction is from the south or southeast with velocities in the range of 3 to 4 m/s (7–9 mph), with gusts of 3.5 −4.8 m/s (8–10.7 mph). The wind is calm (defined as being under 2 m/s or 4.5 mph) about 35% of the time, more frequently at night and in the winter.
History
When the Roman EmpireRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
was strengthening its position throughout Europe, a few Germanic tribes
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
clung in marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
y territory off the eastern banks of the Rhine River.
In the 7th and 8th centuries, the odd farming
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
or fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
settlement could be found at the point where the small river Düssel
Düssel
The Düssel is a small right tributary of the River Rhine in North Rhine Westphalia, Germany. Its source is between Wülfrath and Velbert. It flows westward through the Neander Valley where the fossils of the first Neanderthal man were found in 1856...
flows into the Rhine. It was from such settlements that the city of Düsseldorf grew.
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick I Barbarossa was a German Holy Roman Emperor. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March, crowned King of Italy in Pavia in 1155, and finally crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV, on 18 June 1155, and two years later in 1157 the term...
the small town of Kaiserswerth to the north of Düsseldorf became a well fortified outpost, where soldiers kept a watchful eye on every movement on the Rhine. Kaiserswerth eventually became a suburb of Düsseldorf in 1929.
In 1186 Düsseldorf came under the rule of Berg
Berg (state)
Berg was a state – originally a county, later a duchy – in the Rhineland of Germany. Its capital was Düsseldorf. It existed from the early 12th to the 19th centuries.-Ascent:...
. The dukes of Berg moved their seat to the town in 1386. 14 August 1288 is one of the most important dates in the history of Düsseldorf as it was on this day that the sovereign Count Adolf V of Berg granted the village on the banks of the Düssel the Town privileges
Town privileges
Town privileges or city rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium.Judicially, a town was distinguished from the surrounding land by means of a charter from the ruling monarch that defined its privileges and laws. Common privileges were related to trading...
.
Prior to that announcement, a bloody struggle for power had taken place between the Archbishop of Cologne and the count of Berg, culminating in the Battle of Worringen
Battle of Worringen
The Battle of Worringen was fought on June 5, 1288, near the town of Worringen , which is now the northernmost borough of Cologne...
. The Archbishop of Cologne's forces were wiped out by the forces of the count of Berg who were supported by citizens and farmers of Cologne and Düsseldorf, paving the way for Düsseldorf's elevation to city status, which is commemorated today by a monument on the Burgplatz. In fact, the custom of turning cartwheels is credited to the children of Düsseldorf. There are variations of the origin of the cartwheeling children, but the most famous is the story. Today the symbol (Der Radschläger) represents the story and every year the Düsseldorfers celebrate by having a cartwheeling contest.
Carnival
Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...
) and in sports.
A market square
Market square
The market square is a feature of many European and colonial towns. It is an open area where market stalls are traditionally set out for trading, commonly on one particular day of the week known as market day....
sprang up on the banks of the Rhine and the square was protected by city walls
Defensive wall
A defensive wall is a fortification used to protect a city or settlement from potential aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements...
on all four sides. In 1380, Düsseldorf was made regional capital of the Duchy of Berg. During the following centuries several famous landmarks were built, including the Collegiate Church
Collegiate church
In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons; a non-monastic, or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a dean or provost...
of St. Lambertus. In 1609, the ducal line of the United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg died out, and after a virulent struggle over succession, Jülich and Berg fell to the Wittelsbach Counts of Palatinate-Neuburg
Palatinate-Neuburg
Palatinate-Neuburg is a former territory of the Holy Roman Empire, founded in 1505. Its capital was Neuburg an der Donau. Its area was about 2,750 km², with a population of some 100,000.-History:...
, who made Düsseldorf their main domicile, even after they inherited the Electoral Palatinate, in 1685, becoming now Prince-elector
Prince-elector
The Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...
s as Electors Palatine.
Düsseldorf's growth was even more impressive under the leadership of Johann Wilhelm II
Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine
Johann Wilhelm II, Elector Palatine was Elector Palatine , Duke Palatine of Neuburg/Danube , Duke of Jülich and Berg , and Duke of Upper Palatinate and Cham...
(r. 1690-1716) in the 18th century, also known to his people as Jan Wellem. Greatly influenced by his wife Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici
Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici
Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici was the last scion of the House of Medici. A patron of the arts, she bequeathed the Medici's large art collection, including the contents of the Uffizi, Palazzo Pitti and the Medicean villas, which she inherited upon her brother Gian Gastone's death in 1737, and her...
, the art lover designed a vast art gallery with a huge selection of paintings and sculptures that were housed in the Stadtschloss (city castle).
After the death of childless Jan Wellem, the flourishing royal capital fell on hard times again, especially after Elector Charles Theodore
Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria
Charles Theodore, Prince-Elector, Count Palatine and Duke of Bavaria reigned as Prince-Elector and Count palatine from 1742, as Duke of Jülich and Berg from 1742 and also as Prince-Elector and Duke of Bavaria from 1777, until his death...
inherited Bavaria and moved the electoral court to Munich. With him he took the art collection
Collection (museum)
A museum is distinguished by a collection of often unique objects that forms the core of its activities for exhibitions, education, research, etc. This differentiates it from an archive or library, where the contents may be more paper-based, replaceable and less exhibition oriented...
, which became part of what is now the Alte Pinakothek
Alte Pinakothek
The Alte Pinakothek is an art museum situated in the Kunstareal in Munich, Germany. It is one of the oldest galleries in the world and houses one of the most famous collections of Old Master paintings...
in Munich. Destruction and poverty struck Düsseldorf after the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
. Napoleon made Berg a Grand Duchy
Grand Duchy of Berg
The Grand Duchy of Berg was established by Napoleon Bonaparte after his victory at the 1805 Battle of Austerlitz on territories between the French Empire at the Rhine river and the Kingdom of Westphalia.-History:...
and Düsseldorf its capital. J. C. C. Devaranne
Johann Christian Claudius Devaranne
Johann Christian Claudius Devaranne was one of the leaders of the Russian Truncheon Insurgency directed against Napoleon I of France's military occupation of Solingen in Germany's North Rhine-Westphalia...
, a leader of Solingen
Solingen
Solingen is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the northern edge of the region called Bergisches Land, south of the Ruhr area, and with a 2009 population of 161,366 is the second largest city in the Bergisches Land...
's resistance to Napoleon's conscription decrees, was executed here in 1813. After the defeat of Napoleon, the whole Rhineland
Rhineland
Historically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....
including Berg was given to the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
in 1815. The parliament of the Rhine Province
Rhine Province
The Rhine Province , also known as Rhenish Prussia or synonymous to the Rhineland , was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822-1946. It was created from the provinces of the Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg...
was established in Düsseldorf later.
By the mid-19th century, Düsseldorf enjoyed a revival thanks to the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
as the city boasted 100,000 inhabitants by 1882; the figure doubled in 1892.
In 1920, Düsseldorf became the centre for the General Strike. On 15 April 1920 45 delegates of the German Miners Union were murdered by the Freikorps
Freikorps
Freikorps are German volunteer military or paramilitary units. The term was originally applied to voluntary armies formed in German lands from the middle of the 18th century onwards. Between World War I and World War II the term was also used for the paramilitary organizations that arose during...
.
It was a target of strategic bombing during World War II
Strategic bombing during World War II
Strategic bombing during World War II is a term which refers to all aerial bombardment of a strategic nature between 1939 and 1945 involving any nations engaged in World War II...
, particularly during the RAF bombing campaign against the Ruhr industry in 1943
Battle of the Ruhr
The Battle of the Ruhr was a 5-month long campaign of strategic bombing during the Second World War against the Nazi Germany Ruhr Area, which had coke plants, steelworks, and 10 synthetic oil plants...
when over 700 bombers were used in a single night. Raids continued late into the war. As part of the campaign against German oil facilities
Oil Campaign of World War II
The Allied Oil Campaign of World War II was directed at facilities supplying Nazi Germany with petroleum, oil, and lubrication products...
, the RAF raid of February 20/21 1945 on the Rhenania Ossag refinery in the Reisholz district of Düsseldorf halted oil production there.
The Allied ground advance into Germany reached Düsseldorf in mid-April 1945. The US 97th Infantry Division easily captured the city 18 April 1945 in the absence of organized German resistance.
In 1946 Düsseldorf was made capital of the new federal state
Federation
A federation , also known as a federal state, is a type of sovereign state characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government...
of 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...
. The city's reconstruction proceeded at a frantic pace and the economic transformation saw Düsseldorf grow into the wealthy city of trade, administration and service industries that it is today.
Demographics
17% of Düsseldorf's population are foreigners: a total of 101,481 people.The largest ethnic minority
Minority group
A minority is a sociological group within a demographic. The demographic could be based on many factors from ethnicity, gender, wealth, power, etc. The term extends to numerous situations, and civilizations within history, despite the misnomer of minorities associated with a numerical statistic...
groups are Turks, Greeks
Greeks in Germany
The Greeks in Germany form a significant community with a population of 294,891 people according to the Federal Statistical Office of Germany, on December 31, 2007.-History:The first Greeks came during the time of the Roman Empire to Central Europe....
, and Italians.
Düsseldorf has the third-largest Jewish community in Germany, with about 7,600 members: more than 1% of the city's population.
Düsseldorf and its surroundings have the third-largest Japanese community in Europe and the largest in Germany (about 11,000 people).
Number of minorities (1st and 2nd generation) in Düsseldorf by country of origin per 31. December 2007
| Rank | Ancestry | Number |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Turkey |
30,000 |
| 2 |  Greece |
21,000 |
| 3 |  Italy |
13,000 |
| 4 |  Serbia |
12,000 |
| 5 |  Poland |
12,000 |
| 6 |  Morocco |
10,000 |
| 7 |  Japan |
10,000 |
| 8 |  Russia |
7,000 |
Districts
Düsseldorf is currently (2007) divided into ten administrative districts. Each district (Bezirk) has its own elected district council (Bezirksvertretung) and its own district mayor (Bezirksvorsteher). The district councils are advisory only. Each district is further subdivided into boroughs. There are 49 boroughs in Düsseldorf.District 1 District 1, Düsseldorf District 1 is the central city district of Düsseldorf, the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and the city's commercial and cultural center... (Stadtbezirk 1)
District 2 District 2, Düsseldorf District 2 is a city district of Düsseldorf, the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The district covers an area of 7,18 square kilometres and has about 57,000 inhabitants.... (Stadtbezirk 2)
District 3 District 3, Düsseldorf District 3 is a central city district of Düsseldorf, the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and the city's most populous and one of its most diverse districts.... (Stadtbezirk 3)
District 4 District 4, Düsseldorf District 4 is a city district of Düsseldorf, the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It covers an area of 12,80 square kilometres and has about 40,000 inhabitants.... (Stadtbezirk 4)
District 5 District 5, Düsseldorf District 5 is a northern city district of Düsseldorf, the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The district is location of Düsseldorf's International Airport. It is the largest district by land area, but also the least populated... (Stadtbezirk 5)
|
District 6 (Stadtbezirk 6)
District 7 District 7, Düsseldorf District 7 is an eastern city district of Düsseldorf, the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The district covers an area of 27,97 square kilometres and has about 44,000 inhabitants. The district borders with the Düsseldorf districts 8, 2 and 6 to the South, West and North... (Stadtbezirk 7)
District 8 (Stadtbezirk 8)
District 9 District 9, Düsseldorf District 9 is a southern city district of Düsseldorf, the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The district covers an area of 36,59 square kilometres and has about 89,000 inhabitants.... (Stadtbezirk 9)
District 10 (Stadtbezirk 10)
|
Economy
Fashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
industries: in the last few years the city on the Rhine has become one of the top telecommunications centres in Germany. There are 18 internet service provider
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
s located in the capital of North-Rhine Westphalia. With two of the four big German providers of mobile frequencies, D2 Vodafone
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Plc is a global telecommunications company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's largest mobile telecommunications company measured by revenues and the world's second-largest measured by subscribers , with around 341 million proportionate subscribers as of...
and E-Plus
E-Plus
E-Plus is a mobile telecommunications operator in Germany. With 19.0 million subscribers, E-Plus is the third largest mobile operator in Germany, after T-Mobile and Vodafone ....
, Düsseldorf leads the German mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
market. There are also many foreign trading centres in Düsseldorf such as NTT
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone
, commonly known as NTT, is a Japanese telecommunications company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Ranked the 31st in Fortune Global 500, NTT is the largest telecommunications company in Asia, and the second-largest in the world in terms of revenue....
, Ericsson
Ericsson
Ericsson , one of Sweden's largest companies, is a provider of telecommunication and data communication systems, and related services, covering a range of technologies, including especially mobile networks...
, Sandvik
Sandvik
Sandvik is a Swedish company founded in 1862 by Göran Fredrik Göransson in Sandviken. It is a high-technology engineering group and a world-leader in tooling, stainless steel alloys and materials technology, mining and construction...
, Nokia
Nokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
and GTS. Eurowings
Eurowings
Eurowings Luftverkehrs AG, part of Lufthansa Regional, is an airline with its head office in the Düsseldorf Administrative Center in Düsseldorf, Germany...
and formerly independent LTU International
LTU International
LTU Lufttransport-Unternehmen GmbH was an airline based in Düsseldorf, Germany, now fully owned by Air Berlin. The initials stand for the German phrase LuftTransport-Unternehmen . It operated scheduled services on medium and long-haul routes, as well as charter services...
, are two airlines, with headquartered in the city.
Many of the internet companies in Düsseldorf have their roots in the world of advertising: there are 400 advertising agencies
Advertising agency
An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services...
in Düsseldorf, among them three of the largest in Germany: BBDO Group
BBDO
BBDO is a worldwide advertising agency network, with its headquarters in New York City. The agency began in 1891 with George Batten's Batten Company, and later in 1928, through a merger of BDO and Batten Co. the agency became BBDO...
, Publicis Group
Publicis
Publicis Groupe is a French multinational advertising and communications company, headquartered in Paris, France. It is one of the world's three largest advertising holding companies . Its current president is Maurice Lévy. Publicis Groupe S.A...
and Grey Group. A number of affiliates of foreign agencies deserve mention as well, such as Ogilvy & Mather
Ogilvy & Mather
Ogilvy & Mather is an international advertising, marketing and public relations agency based in Manhattan and owned by the WPP Group. The company operates 497 offices in 125 countries with approximately 16,000 employees.-History:...
, Dentsu
Dentsu
is one of the largest advertising agencies in the world. Its headquarters are located in the Dentsu Building in the Shiodome district of Minato, Tokyo....
, Hakuhodo
Hakuhodo
is Japan's second largest advertising agency, with gross sales of approximately 700 hundred million yen. It has its headquarters at Akasaka Biz Tower in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo....
, Digital District and DDB
DDB Worldwide
DDB Worldwide Communications Group Inc., known internationally as DDB, is a worldwide marketing communications network. It is owned by Omnicom Group Inc, one of the world's largest advertising holding companies...
. There are also about 200 publishing houses
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
in Düsseldorf.
In Düsseldorf there are about 170 national and international financial institutions
Global financial system
The global financial system is the financial system consisting of institutions and regulators that act on the international level, as opposed to those that act on a national or regional level...
, and about 130 insurance agencies, and one of the biggest German stock exchange
Stock exchange
A stock exchange is an entity that provides services for stock brokers and traders to trade stocks, bonds, and other securities. Stock exchanges also provide facilities for issue and redemption of securities and other financial instruments, and capital events including the payment of income and...
s.
Several other major companies have their headquarters in the city: Peek & Cloppenburg
Peek & Cloppenburg
Peek & Cloppenburg is an international chain of fashion department stores. The chain is made up of two separate groups, Peek & Cloppenburg KG Düsseldorf and Peek & Cloppenburg KG Hamburg which operate independently from each other.-History:In 1869, Johann Theodor Peek and Heinrich Anton Adolph...
(fashion), L'Oréal
L'Oréal
The L'Oréal Group is the world's largest cosmetics and beauty company. With its registered office in Paris and head office in the Paris suburb of Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine, France, it has developed activities in the field of cosmetics...
Germany (Cosmetics and Beauty); Henkel
Henkel
Henkel AG & Co. KGaA is an multinational company headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany.The company operates in three business areas: Home Care , Personal Care ,...
AG & Co. KGaA (Branded Consumer Goods and Industrial technologies); E.ON
E.ON
E.ON AG, marketed with an interpunct as E•ON, is the holding company of the world's largest investor-owned energy service provider based in Düsseldorf, Germany. The name comes from the Greek word aeon which means eternity....
(energy); ThyssenKrupp
ThyssenKrupp
ThyssenKrupp AG is a German multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Duisburg Essen, Germany. The corporation consists of 670 companies worldwide. While ThyssenKrupp is one of the world's largest steel producers, the company also provides components and systems for the automotive...
(metallurgy); Metro
Metro AG
Metro AG is a diversified retail and wholesale/cash and carry group based in Düsseldorf, Germany. It has the largest market share in its home market, and is one of the most globalised retail and wholesale corporations. It is the fourth-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues . In English...
(wholesale, retail); Ergo (insurance); LTU
LTU International
LTU Lufttransport-Unternehmen GmbH was an airline based in Düsseldorf, Germany, now fully owned by Air Berlin. The initials stand for the German phrase LuftTransport-Unternehmen . It operated scheduled services on medium and long-haul routes, as well as charter services...
(air transport), Esprit Holdings
Esprit Holdings
Esprit Holdings Limited is a publicly owned manufacturer of apparel, footwear, accessories, jewellery and housewares under the Esprit label. The company is headquartered in Kowloon, Hong Kong, and Ratingen , Germany. In the 2007–2008 business year, Esprit Holdings Limited generated a worldwide...
(fashion, headquarters in Ratingen near Düsseldorf), Cognis
Cognis
Cognis is a worldwide supplier of specialty chemicals and nutritional ingredients, headquartered in Monheim am Rhein, Germany. The company employs about 5,600 people and operates production or service centers in almost 30 countries....
(chemicals, headquarter in Monheim near Düsseldorf, but production mainly in Düsseldorf).
Daimler AG builds the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is a light and heavy commercial vehicle, built by Daimler AG of Stuttgart, Germany as a van, chassis cab and minibus, and sold as a Mercedes model, except in the U.S. where it is built from complete knock down kits and was sold by Freightliner until 2010 when Mercedes...
and Volkswagen Crafter
Volkswagen Crafter
The Volkswagen Crafter, introduced in 2006, is the largest 3 to 5 tonne van sold by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. It is the third generation of the Volkswagen LT truck, which has been in production since 1975....
light commercial vehicles in Düsseldorf.
Since the 1960s, there has been a strong relationship between the city and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Many Japanese banks and corporations have their European headquarters in Düsseldorf - so many that Düsseldorf has the third largest Japanese community in Europe, after London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
The "Kö", which stands for Königsallee
Königsallee
The Königsallee is an urban boulevard in Düsseldorf, state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The Königsallee is noted for both the landscaped canal that runs along its center, as well as for the fashion showrooms and luxury retail stores located along its sides.Nicknamed Kö by the...
("King's Avenue"), is a popular shopping destination. Some of the most reputed jewellery shops, designer labels, and galleries have their stores here. The Kö has about the highest rents for shops and bureaus in Germany. Messe Düsseldorf
Messe Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf Messe is a trade fair ground and organizer, based in Düsseldorf, Germany. With a workforce of 1,459 employees worldwide and a total exhibition space of 285,000 sqm in Düsseldorf, the company is one of the largest in the industry...
organizes several international congresses and trade fairs throughout the year, most notably boot Düsseldorf
Boot Düsseldorf
The Düsseldorf International Boat Show , more commonly known as boot Düsseldorf or just boot , is one of the world's premier boat shows....
Boat Show, drupa
Drupa
Drupa is the largest printing equipment exhibition in the world, held every four years at Messe Düsseldorf GmbH, City of Düsseldorf, Germany....
Printing & Media and cpd Fashion Show.
Media
Important newspapers and journals such as HandelsblattHandelsblatt
The Handelsblatt is a leading German language business newspaper, published in Düsseldorf by the Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt. It has a circulation of 145.437 daily copies. Its editor-in-chief is Gabor Steingart...
, Rheinische Post
Rheinische Post
The Rheinische Post is a major German regional daily newspaper, published since 1946 by the Rheinische Post Verlagsgesellschaft mbH company....
, Wirtschaftswoche, Deutsches Wirtschaftsblatt and VDI-Nachrichten are published in Düsseldorf. Almost all of these papers are available online on the Internet. Renowned filmmaking companies, such as Germany's biggest cinema enterprise, the Riech-Group, and TV channels such as WDR, ZDF
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...
, and QVC
QVC
QVC is a multinational corporation specializing in televised home shopping. Founded in 1986 by Joseph Segel in West Goshen Township, Pennsylvania, United States, QVC broadcasts in five countries as QVC US, QVC UK, QVC Germany, QVC Japan and – QVC Italy to 200 million households...
are also located in Düsseldorf.
Transport
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....
, also referred to as Rhein-Ruhr Airport, is located eight kilometres (5 mi) from the city centre and can easily be reached by train or the S-Bahn
S-Bahn
S-Bahn refers to an often combined city center and suburban railway system metro in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Denmark...
urban railway. There is a long-distance train station served by regional and national services, which is linked to the airport by the SkyTrain, an automatic people mover
People mover
A people mover or automated people mover is a fully automated, grade-separated mass transit system.The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks, but is sometimes applied to considerably more complex automated...
. Another station situated under the terminal building carries the S-Bahn line (S11) to Düsseldorf Hbf, the city's central station and to Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
as well as a few selected night services.
After Frankfurt and Munich, Düsseldorf International is Germany's third largest commercial airport
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
, with 18.6 million passengers annually. The airport offers 180 destinations on 4 continents, and is served by 70 airlines. The airport buildings were partly destroyed by a devastating fire caused by welding works in 1996, killing 17 people. It was completely rebuilt and the Skytrain installed.
The city is a major hub in the Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...
(DB) railway network. More than 1,000 trains stop in Düsseldorf daily. Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof
Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof
is the Hauptbahnhof for the city of Düsseldorf in Germany, state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia.-History:The station was opened on 1 October 1891 opened as Düsseldorf Central Station...
at Konrad-Adenauer-Platz is located in Düsseldorf-Stadtmitte
Düsseldorf-Stadtmitte
Stadtmitte is an urban borough in the central District 1 of Düsseldorf, Germany. Stadtmitte borders with Carlstadt, Pempelfort, Oberbilk and the old town of Düsseldorf: Düsseldorf-Altstadt.In the Stadtmitte there are:...
. Several Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn
Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn
The Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn is a polycentric S-Bahn network covering the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Region in the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. This includes most of the Ruhr , the Berg cities of Wuppertal and Solingen and parts of the Rhineland...
lines connect Düsseldorf to other cities of Rhine-Ruhr. Local Düsseldorf Straßenbahn
Trams in Düsseldorf
The Düsseldorf tramway network forms part of the public transport system in Düsseldorf, the capital city of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.Opened in 1876, the network is currently operated by Rheinbahn AG.-See also:...
and light rail
Light rail
Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...
Düsseldorf Stadtbahn
Düsseldorf Stadtbahn
The Düsseldorf Stadtbahn, together with the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn and the Düsseldorf Straßenbahn , is the backbone of the public transport system of Düsseldorf, Germany, and is integrated in the Rhine-Ruhr Stadtbahn network...
traffic, as well as local bus traffic, is carried out by the city-owned Rheinbahn
Rheinbahn
The Rheinbahn is a public transport provider operating in and around Düsseldorf. Its network consists of 7 Stadtbahn lines as well as 13 tram and 92 bus services and is integrated in the Rhine-Ruhr Stadtbahn network. The total rail network length is...
which operates within the VRR
Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr
The Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr is the public transport association covering the area of the Rhine-Ruhr megalopolis in Germany...
public transport
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
system. The light rail system also serves neighbouring cities and is partially operated underground.
The Central Station and the Airport Station (Flughafen-Bahnhof) are connected to the national and European high-speed systems
High-speed rail in Europe
High-speed rail is emerging in Europe as an increasingly popular and efficient means of transport. The first high-speed rail lines in Europe, built in the 1980s and 1990s, improved travel times on intra-national corridors. Since then, several countries have built extensive high-speed networks,...
(Intercity/Eurocity, IC/EC and InterCityExpress
InterCityExpress
The Intercity-Express or ICE is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany and neighbouring countries. It is the highest service category offered by DB Fernverkehr and is the flagship of Deutsche Bahn...
).
North Rhine-Westphalia has the densest network of autobahns in Germany and Düsseldorf is directly accessible via the A3, A44
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...
, A46, A52
Bundesautobahn 52
is an autobahn in western Germany. It starts at the Dutch-German border near the community of Niederkrüchten, district of Viersen. From Elmpt it runs northeast....
, A57
Bundesautobahn 57
The Bundesautobahn 57 is a German Autobahn that begins at the Dutch-German border near Goch and ends in Köln. It runs parallel to the Rhine River. Neuss and Krefeld are the biggest cities at this motorway. The A 57 is continuation of the Dutch A77...
, A59
Bundesautobahn 59
is an autobahn in Germany that starts in Dinslaken and runs with three breaks along Duisburg, Düsseldorf and Cologne to Bonn.In the south of Duisburg it is the city highway, too....
and A524
Bundesautobahn 524
is an autobahn in Germany.The A 524 is a short connector, heading west from Breitscheid and the A 52 towards Krefeld. The autobahn was built in the 1980s by upgrading the B 288...
.
Culture and recreation
Art-loving Elector Jan WellemJohann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine
Johann Wilhelm II, Elector Palatine was Elector Palatine , Duke Palatine of Neuburg/Danube , Duke of Jülich and Berg , and Duke of Upper Palatinate and Cham...
and his wife Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici
Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici
Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici was the last scion of the House of Medici. A patron of the arts, she bequeathed the Medici's large art collection, including the contents of the Uffizi, Palazzo Pitti and the Medicean villas, which she inherited upon her brother Gian Gastone's death in 1737, and her...
of Tuscany, were the patrons of Düsseldorf's first significant cultural activities in the 17th and 18th centuries. Heinrich Heine
Heinrich Heine
Christian Johann Heinrich Heine was one of the most significant German poets of the 19th century. He was also a journalist, essayist, and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of Lieder by composers such as Robert Schumann...
, whose 200th birthday was celebrated in 1997, Clara and Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
as well as Felix Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
are the most prominent artists related to the city. Artistic impulses were often born in the Academy of Fine Arts and the names of Paul Klee
Paul Klee
Paul Klee was born in Münchenbuchsee, Switzerland, and is considered both a German and a Swiss painter. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. He was, as well, a student of orientalism...
, Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys
Joseph Beuys was a German performance artist, sculptor, installation artist, graphic artist, art theorist and pedagogue of art.His extensive work is grounded in concepts of humanism, social philosophy and anthroposophy; it culminates in his "extended definition of art" and the idea of social...
, Gerhard Richter
Gerhard Richter
Gerhard Richter is a German visual artist. Richter has simultaneously produced abstract and photorealistic painted works, as well as photographs and glass pieces, thus undermining the concept of the artist’s obligation to maintain a single cohesive style.- Biography :Gerhard Richter was born in...
as well as Albert Bierstadt
Albert Bierstadt
Albert Bierstadt was a German-American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. In obtaining the subject matter for these works, Bierstadt joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion...
are associated with the institution (Düsseldorf School
Düsseldorf School
The Düsseldorf school of painting refers to a group of painters who taught or studied at the Düsseldorf Academy in the 1830s and 1840s, when the Academy was directed by the painter Wilhelm von Schadow...
). The Düsseldorf cultural scene comprises traditional and avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
, classical and glamorous. The world famous state art collection of North Rhine-Westphalia, the highly acclaimed Deutsche Oper am Rhein
Deutsche Oper am Rhein
The Deutsche Oper am Rhein is an opera company based in Düsseldorf and Duisburg. The opera also has an associated classical ballet company....
(opera), and the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus (theatre), artistic home of Gustaf Gründgens
Gustaf Gründgens
Gustaf Gründgens , born Gustav Heinrich Arnold Gründgens, was one of Germany's most famous and influential actors of the 20th century, intendant and artistic director of theatres in Berlin, Düsseldorf, and Hamburg...
, are major elements of Düsseldorf's reputation as a centre of the fine arts.
Beer
Düsseldorf is well known for its AltbierAltbier
Altbier is a German top-fermenting beer brewed in Düsseldorf and other parts of North Rhine-Westphalia.The name Altbier, which means old beer, refers to the pre-lager brewing method of using a warm top-fermenting yeast...
, a hoppy beer
which translates as old [style] beer, a reference to the pre-lager
Lager
Lager is a type of beer made from malted barley that is brewed and stored at low temperatures. There are many types of lager; pale lager is the most widely-consumed and commercially available style of beer in the world; Pilsner, Bock, Dortmunder Export and Märzen are all styles of lager...
brewing method of using a warm top-fermenting yeast like British pale ales. Over time the Alt yeast adjusted to lower temperatures, and the Alt brewers would store or lager the beer after fermentation, leading to a cleaner, crisper beer.
The name "altbier" first appeared in the 19th century to differentiate the beers of Düsseldorf from the new pale lager
Pale lager
Pale lager is a very pale to golden-coloured beer with a well attenuated body and a varying degree of noble hop bitterness. The brewing process for this beer developed in the mid 19th century when Gabriel Sedlmayr took pale ale brewing techniques back to the Spaten Brewery in Germany and applied it...
that was gaining a hold on Germany. Brewers in Düsseldorf used the pale malts that were used for the modern pale lagers, but retained the old ("alt") method of using warm fermenting yeasts.
The first brewery to use the name Alt was Schumacher which opened in 1838. The founder, Mathias Schumacher, allowed the beer to mature in cool conditions in wooden casks for longer than normal, and laid the foundation for the modern alt - amber coloured and lagered. The result is a pale beer that has some of the lean dryness of a lager but with fruity notes as well.
At present, there are four brewpubs in Düsseldorf which brew Altbier on premises: Füchschen, Schumacher, Schlüssel and Uerige. Three of the four are located in the Old Town (Altstadt); the other (Schumacher) is located between the Altstadt and the main rail station (Hauptbahnhof), and also maintains an establishment in the Altstadt, Goldener Kessel, directly across the street from Schlüssel.
Each produces a special, secret, seasonal "Sticke" version in small quantities, though the names vary: Schlüssel spells it "Stike", without the "c", while Schumacher calls its special beer "Latzenbier", meaning "slat beer", possibly because the kegs from which it was poured had been stored on raised shelves. Füchschen's seasonal is its Weihnachtsbier (Christmas beer), available in bottles starting mid-November, and served in the brewpub on Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...
.
Music and nightlife
Since the 1950s the "Kom(m)ödchenKom(m)ödchen
The Komödchen is a cabaret stage in Düsseldorf.The Komödchen was created in 1947 as a political-literary cabaret by Kay and Lore Lorentz. Other participants in the initial program "Positiv dagegen", which had its premiere on March 29, 1947, were Werner Vielhaber, Bernd Nesselhut, Hans Walter...
" has been one of the most prominent political cabarets of Germany.
Düsseldorf's most famous contribution to the culture of modern popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
is beyond doubt the avant-garde electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
band Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...
. Formed by a few Düsseldorf-born musicians, Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...
are internationally known as the most significant band in the history of post-war
Post-war
A post-war period or postwar period is the interval immediately following the ending of a war and enduring as long as war does not resume. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum when a war between the same parties resumes at a later date...
German music
Music of Germany
Forms of German-language music include Neue Deutsche Welle , Krautrock, Hamburger Schule, Volksmusik, Classical, German hip hop, trance, Schlager, Neue Deutsche Härte and diverse varieties of folk music, such as Waltz and Medieval metal....
and as pioneers in electronic music. Internationally-known power metal
Power metal
Power metal is a style of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. The term refers to two different but related styles: the first pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a...
band Warlock
Warlock (band)
Warlock was a German heavy metal band, assembled in 1982. The band gained some commercial success in the mid 1980s. By the end of the decade, singer Doro Pesch was the sole original member who remained in the band, and thus proceeded to form Doro, a band that was essentially a continuation of...
was formed in Düsseldorf in 1982. Their frontwoman, Doro Pesch
Doro (musician)
Dorothee Pesch , popularly known as Doro Pesch or Doro, is a female rock vocalist, formerly of the German heavy metal band Warlock ....
, has had a successful solo career in Europe and Asia since Warlock
Warlock (band)
Warlock was a German heavy metal band, assembled in 1982. The band gained some commercial success in the mid 1980s. By the end of the decade, singer Doro Pesch was the sole original member who remained in the band, and thus proceeded to form Doro, a band that was essentially a continuation of...
ended. The punk band
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
Die Toten Hosen
Die Toten Hosen
Die Toten Hosen is a German punk band from Düsseldorf. They have enjoyed decades-long mass appeal in Germany.The band's name literally means "The Dead Pants" in English, although the phrase "tote Hose" is a German expression meaning "nothing going on" or "boring"...
, which is famous around the world, also the most popular singers in Germany Westernhagen and Heino
Heino
Heino is a German singer of popular music and traditional Volksmusik....
come from Düsseldorf. The electronic act D.A.F.
Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft
Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft or D.A.F. is an influential German electropunk/NDW band from Düsseldorf, formed in 1978 featuring Gabriel "Gabi" Delgado-López , Robert Görl , Kurt "Pyrolator" Dahlke , Michael Kemner and Wolfgang Spelmans...
was formed in the city in 1978, as well as the electronic/industrial pioneers Die Krupps
Die Krupps
Die Krupps is a German industrial rock/EBM band, formed in 1980 by Jürgen Engler and Bernward Malaka in Düsseldorf.-History:Their initial sound throughout the 1980s combined synthesizers with metallic percussion...
in 1980. The experimental post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
group La Düsseldorf
La Düsseldorf
La Düsseldorf was a German band, consisting of onetime Kraftwerk drummer and Neu! multi-instrumentalist Klaus Dinger and occasional Neu! collaborators Thomas Dinger and Hans Lampe. La Düsseldorf was formed after Neu! disbanded following the release of their Neu! '75 record...
was named after the city, for which it paid with a legal case in the early 1980s.
In the Oldtown (Altstadt) German and international tourists go out on the main street Bolkerstraße, while the local scene (students and creative people) prefers the bars on Ratinger Straße and Kurze Straße.
Carnival
One of the biggest cultural events in Düsseldorf is the KarnevalCarnival
Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...
(also referred to as the "fifth season") which starts every year on 11 November at 11:11 a.m., and reaches its climax on Rosenmontag
Rosenmontag
Rosenmontag is the highlight of the German "Karneval" , and is on the Shrove Monday before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. The "Mardi Gras," though celebrated on Tuesday, is a similar event...
(Rose Monday), featuring a huge parade through the streets of Düsseldorf. Karneval ends on Aschermittwoch (Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday, in the calendar of Western Christianity, is the first day of Lent and occurs 46 days before Easter. It is a moveable fast, falling on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter...
). The Düsseldorf carnival is part of the traditional carnival festivities in the Rhineland.
Cuisine
Traditional meals in the region are Rheinischer SauerbratenSauerbraten
Sauerbraten is a German pot roast, usually of beef , marinated before cooking in a mixture of vinegar, water, spices and seasonings.Sauerbraten is traditionally served with red cabbage, potato dumplings , Spätzle,...
(a beef roast and sometimes horse marinated for a few days in vinegar and spices served with gravy and raisins ) and Heaven and Earth
Himmel und Erde
Himmel und Erde is a traditional German dish most popular in the regions of the Rhineland, Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Silesia. The dish consists of black pudding, fried onions, and mashed potato with apple sauce...
(Himmel und Äd) (black pudding with stewed apples mixed with mashed potato
Mashed potato
Mashed potato is made by mashing freshly boiled potatoes with a ricer, fork, potato masher, food mill, or whipping them with a hand beater. Dehydrated and frozen mashed potatoes are available in many places...
es). In winter the people like to eat Muscheln Rheinischer Art (Rhenish-style mussels) as well as Reibekuchen
Reibekuchen
Reibekuchen are German potato fritters that are characteristic to the Rheinland area. Reibekuchen are usually eaten with apple sauce or pumpernickel bread. They are often sold at street fairs and markets, especially in Christmas markets in Germany....
(fried potato pancake served with apple sauce). Also a special meal: Düsseldorfer Senfrostbraten (Steaks roasted with Düsseldorf mustard on top).
Together with the French city of Dijon
Dijon
Dijon is a city in eastern France, the capital of the Côte-d'Or département and of the Burgundy region.Dijon is the historical capital of the region of Burgundy. Population : 151,576 within the city limits; 250,516 for the greater Dijon area....
, Düsseldorf is known for its mustard
Mustard (condiment)
Mustard is a condiment made from the seeds of a mustard plant...
served in a traditional pot called "Mostertpöttche", which was eternalised in a still life
Still life
A still life is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which may be either natural or man-made...
by Vincent van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh , and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: , with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh. In France, where much of his work was produced, it is...
in 1884.
Rivalry with Cologne
Düsseldorf and CologneCologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
have a "fierce regional rivalry". The rivalry includes carnival
Carnival in Germany, Switzerland and Austria
In German-speaking countries, there are essentially two distinct variations of Carnivals: the Rhenish Carnival in the west of Germany centred around the cities of Düsseldorf, Cologne and Mainz, and the Alemannic or Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht in Swabia , Switzerland, Alsace and Vorarlberg .The...
parades, football, and beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...
. People in Cologne prefer Kölsch
Kölsch (beer)
Kölsch, also written Koelsch, is a local beer specialty brewed in Cologne, Germany. It is a clear beer with a bright straw-yellow hue, and it has a prominent, but not extreme, hoppiness. It is less bitter than the standard German pale lager. Furthermore, Kölsch is warm fermented at a temperature...
while people in Düsseldorf prefer Alt. Waiters and patrons will "scorn" and make a "mockery" of people who order Alt beer in Cologne and Kölsch in Düsseldorf. The rivalry has been described as a "love-hate relationship".
Theatres
- Apollo (varieté, circus; shows do not require knowledge of German languageGerman languageGerman is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
) - Capitol (musicals)
- Deutsche Oper am RheinDeutsche Oper am RheinThe Deutsche Oper am Rhein is an opera company based in Düsseldorf and Duisburg. The opera also has an associated classical ballet company....
(Opera; Ballet) - Düsseldorfer SchauspielhausDüsseldorfer SchauspielhausThe Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus is a theatre building in Düsseldorf, with four auditoria.- External links :*...
; the theatre started with theatralic performances in 1585 - Düsseldorfer Marionetten-Theater
- ESPRIT Arena (Venue of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011Eurovision Song Contest 2011The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th annual Eurovision Song Contest and was won by Eldar & Nigar performing "Running Scared" for Azerbaijan. The event took place in the Esprit Arena in Düsseldorf, Germany, following Germany's win in the previous year...
) - FFT - Forum Freies Theater (intimate theatre)
- Klangraum (20th-century classical music)
- Kom(m)ödchenKom(m)ödchenThe Komödchen is a cabaret stage in Düsseldorf.The Komödchen was created in 1947 as a political-literary cabaret by Kay and Lore Lorentz. Other participants in the initial program "Positiv dagegen", which had its premiere on March 29, 1947, were Werner Vielhaber, Bernd Nesselhut, Hans Walter...
(Political cabaret) - Komödie Düsseldorf
- Palais Wittgenstein
- Puppentheater an der Helmholtzstraße (puppetry)
- Robert-Schumann-Saal
- Tanzhaus NRW (theatre for dance)
- Tonhalle DüsseldorfTonhalle DüsseldorfTonhalle Düsseldorf is a concert hall in Düsseldorf. It was built by the architect Wilhelm Kreis.-History:It was built in 1926 as a planetarium, the biggest in the world at the point of construction. During the 1970s it was converted into a concert hall....
(concert hall for classical musicClassical musicClassical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
, jazz, pop, cabaret) - Theater an der Kö
- Theater an der Luegallee
- Theateratelier Takelgarn
- Theater Flin
- Theater Glorreich
- Savoy-Theater
Museums, arts and history institutes, and other attractions
- Akademie-Galerie (exhibition space of the Art Academy Düsseldorf)
- Andreaskirche
- Aquazoo-Löbbecke-Museum (aquarium and zoological museum)
- BRAUSE - Vereinsheim des Metzgerei Schnitzel Kunstvereins e.V.
- Filmmuseum (Film museum)
- Filmstiftung NRW (NRW Film Foundation)
- Forum NRW
- GoetheJohann Wolfgang von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
-Museum - Heinrich-Heine-Institut
- Heinrich Heine Birth-house
- Hetjens Museum (German museum of ceramics)
- Institut Français Düsseldorf
- Institut für Kunstdokumentation und Szenografie (Institute for Art Documentation and Scenography)
- Julia Stoschek Collection (video art)
- KAI 10 | Raum für Kunst
- Kulturbahnhof Eller
- Kunstarchiv Kaiserswerth (works of Bernd and Hilla Becher/Kahmen Collection)
- Kunst im TunnelKunst im TunnelKunst im Tunnel or KIT is a contemporary art museum in Düsseldorf. It is the new exhibition space of Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, located within the Rheinufertunnel - hence the name. It has an underground exhibition area of 850m²....
(KIT) - Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-WestfalenKunstsammlung Nordrhein-WestfalenThe Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen is the art collection of the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, located in Düsseldorf. United by this institution are three different exhibition venues: the K20 at Grabbeplatz, the K21 in the Ständehaus and the Schmela Haus...
(Art Collection Northrhine-Westphalia) - K20 (Grabbeplatz) and K21 (Ständehaus) - Kunsthalle DüsseldorfKunsthalle Düsseldorf-Building:The present art centre was built in 1967 in Brutalist architecture by the architects Konrad Beckmann and Brockes. They used commercially available precast concrete for the construction work.-History:...
- Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen (Society for the Promotion of the Fine Arts)
- Museum Kunst PalastMuseum kunst palastThe Museum Kunstpalast is an art museum in Düsseldorf, Germany.- History :The Museum Kunst Palast was founded as Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, a typical communal arts collection in Germany. The first exhibits were given by the popular regent Jan Wellem, Duke of Palatinate, and his wife Anna Maria Luisa...
- Mahn- und Gedenkstätte für die Opfer des Nationalsozialmus (Memorial museum for victims of NationalsocialismNazismNazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
) - Onomato
- Polnisches Institut Düsseldorf
- Puppentheater an der Helmholtzstraße
- Rathaus
- Reinraum e.v. - Verein zur Förderung von Kunst und Kultur
- RheinturmRheinturm DüsseldorfThe Rheinturm is a 240.5 metre high concrete telecommunications tower in Düsseldorf, capital of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Construction commenced in 1979 and finished in 1981. The Rheinturm carries aerials for directional radio, FM and TV transmitters...
(Rhine Tower; highest building and landmark of Düsseldorf) - St. Lambertuskirche
- Schiffahrt Museum
- Schloss Jagerhof
- Schlossturm
- Schloss und Park Benrath (Palace and park of Benrath) - includes the Museum für europäische Gartenkunst (Museum of European Garden design)
- Stadtmuseum (City history museum)
- Statue of Jan Wellem
- Theatermuseum, Düsseldorf
- Triton Museum
- zakk - cultural centre with concerts, readings, debates and party
Parks and gardens
- Botanischer Garten DüsseldorfBotanischer Garten DüsseldorfThe Botanischer Garten Düsseldorf , also known as the Botanischer Garten der Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf and the Botanischer Garten der Universität Düsseldorf, is a botanical garden maintained by the University of Düsseldorf...
, a modern botanical gardenBotanical gardenA botanical garden The terms botanic and botanical, and garden or gardens are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word botanic is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names... - Hofgarten
- The Nordpark, with the Aquazoo
- The Suedfriedhof (The South Cemetery)
Sports
Fortuna Düsseldorf
' is a German association football club based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, currently playing in the second tier of German league football, the 2. Fußball-Bundesliga...
, the German Champions of 1933, German Cup Winners of 1979, 1980 and European Cup Winners Cup finalists of 1979 competes in the second German league (2. Bundesliga
2. Fußball-Bundesliga
- Changes in division set-up :* Number of clubs: currently 18. From 1974 to 1981 there were two conferences, each of 20 teams. In 1981–91 it had 20...
). Their new stadium, the Esprit arena, opened in January 2005 and has a capacity of 54,500. Düsseldorf is one of nine 1974 FIFA World Cup
1974 FIFA World Cup
The 1974 FIFA World Cup, the tenth staging of the World Cup, was held in West Germany from 13 June to 7 July. The tournament marked the first time that the current trophy, the FIFA World Cup Trophy, created by the Italian sculptor Silvio Gazzaniga, was awarded...
cities and the Rochusclub Düsseldorf has hosted the tennis world team cup since 1978.
Other sports in Düsseldorf are ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
(the DEG Metro Stars
DEG Metro Stars
The DEG Metro Stars is a German professional ice hockey team in Düsseldorf. It was Germany's most successful hockey club for a long time and had many international players...
, former DEG - Düsseldorfer Eislauf Gemeinschaft, which play in the new ISS-Dome) and American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
. The Düsseldorf Panther
Düsseldorf Panther
The Düsseldorf Panther are an American football team from Düsseldorf, Germany. The club is the oldest still existing American football club in Europe, having been formed on 1 May 1978....
are the most successful team in Germany with six national champion trophies and the Eurobowl 1995. In addition the Junior-Programm is the most successful youth-football program in Germany with thirteen national championship titles. Rhine Fire Düsseldorf
Rhein Fire
The Rhein Fire was a professional American football team in NFL Europe, formerly the World League of American Football. Established in Germany in 1995, the franchise resurrected the name of the former Birmingham Fire team which was active during the 1991-1992 WLAF seasons.-History:The team was...
was an established team of the NFL Europe and won the World Bowl
World Bowl
The World Bowl was the American football Championship game of NFL Europe, similar to the Super Bowl of the National Football League.The World Bowl trophy itself was a globe made of glass measuring 35.5 cm in diameter and weighing 18.6 kg .-World League of American Football:When NFL Europe was...
two times in 1998 and 2000. Düsseldorf has a successful rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
team (Düsseldorf Dragons), who play in the regional NRW league and consistently finish with a top 3 position.
Table tennis
Table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
is also played (Borussia Düsseldorf - the most successful team in Germany with Timo Boll), as are handball
Team handball
Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...
(HSG Düsseldorf), basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
(Düsseldorf Giants), baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
(Düsseldorf Senators) and dancing
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
(Rot-Weiß Düsseldorf).
Education
Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf is located in the southern part of the city.It has about 20,000 students and a wide range of subjects in natural science
Natural science
The natural sciences are branches of science that seek to elucidate the rules that govern the natural world by using empirical and scientific methods...
s, mathematics, computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
s, philosophy, social sciences
Social sciences
Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...
, arts, languages, medicine, pharmacy, economy and the law.
Other academic institutions include
- the Clara SchumannClara SchumannClara Schumann was a German musician and composer, considered one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era...
Musikschule (music school) - the Robert Schumann HochschuleRobert Schumann HochschuleThe Robert-Schumann-Hochschule is a college for music studies on university level in Düsseldorf, Germany.-History:...
- the Kunstakademie DüsseldorfKunstakademie DüsseldorfThe Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, formerly Staatliche Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, is the Arts Academy of the city of Düsseldorf. It is well known for having produced many famous artists, such as Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke, Thomas Demand, and Andreas Gursky...
(Official Homepage) (Academy of Fine ArtsFine artFine art or the fine arts encompass art forms developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than practical application. Art is often a synonym for fine art, as employed in the term "art gallery"....
) which is famous for high-profile artists like Joseph Beuys, Paul Klee, Nam June Paik, Gerhard Richter, the Bechers, and Andreas Gursky. - the Fachhochschule DüsseldorfFachhochschule DüsseldorfThe Fachhochschule Düsseldorf is a Fachhochschule with departments for social sciences and cultural studies, technical sciences, architecture, media, design and business education in Düsseldorf.Its foundation was in 1971...
(official website) (University of Applied SciencesApplied scienceApplied science is the application of scientific knowledge transferred into a physical environment. Examples include testing a theoretical model through the use of formal science or solving a practical problem through the use of natural science....
). - the AMD Academy of Fashion and DesignAMD Academy of Fashion and DesignThe AMD Academy of Fashion and Design is a German fashion school with headquarters in Hamburg and additional study centres in Düsseldorf, Munich and Berlin...
(official website) - the Max Planck Institute for Iron ResearchMax Planck Institute for Iron Research GmbHThe Max Planck Institute for Iron Research GmbH is a research institute of the Max Planck Society located in Düsseldorf. The institute was founded as Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Iron Research in Aachen 1917 and moved 1921 to Düsseldorf.-External links:* *...
(Official homepage of the institute) - The Goethe InstituteGoethe-InstitutThe Goethe-Institut is a non-profit German cultural institution operational worldwide, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and relations. The Goethe-Institut also fosters knowledge about Germany by providing information on German...
(Official Homepage) - Verwaltungs- und Wirtschafts-Akademie Düsseldorf
Notable buildings
- RheinturmRheinturm DüsseldorfThe Rheinturm is a 240.5 metre high concrete telecommunications tower in Düsseldorf, capital of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Construction commenced in 1979 and finished in 1981. The Rheinturm carries aerials for directional radio, FM and TV transmitters...
(TV tower) the city's landmark (1982: 234 m (768 ft), since 2004: 240.5 m (789 ft)), the lights on which comprise the world's largest digital clockDigital clockA digital clock is a type of clock that displays the time digitally, i.e. in cyphers, as opposed to an analog clock, where the time is displayed by hands. Digital clocks are often associated with electronic drives, but the "digital" description refers only to the display, not to the drive mechanism...
. - The GehryFrank GehryFrank Owen Gehry, is a Canadian American Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles, California.His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions...
buildings in the Düsseldorf media harbour (see picture above). - The Colorium, an 18 storey tower designed by Alsop and Partners, also in the Düsseldorf media harbour.
- The Benrather SchlossSchloss BenrathSchloss Benrath is a Rococo maison de plaisance near Düsseldorf, Germany, erected for the Elector Palatine Charles Theodore by his garden and building director and garden supervisor, Nicolas de Pigage...
(Benrath palace). - The Wilhem Marx House of 1922/24: at twelve storeys high, it was Germany's first high-rise buildingSkyscraperA skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
. - The Stahlhof of 1906, the administrative centre of Germany's steel economy until 1945.
- The Stummhaus of 1925, another early German high-rise building.
- Gerresheim Basilica.
- St. Suitbertus Basilica.
- DRV Tower, 120 m (394 ft)-high tower constructed in 1978.
- GAP 15, an 85 m (279 ft)-high building constructed in 2005 near KönigsalleeKönigsalleeThe Königsallee is an urban boulevard in Düsseldorf, state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The Königsallee is noted for both the landscaped canal that runs along its center, as well as for the fashion showrooms and luxury retail stores located along its sides.Nicknamed Kö by the...
. - ARAG-TowerArag-TowerThe Arag-Tower or ARAG-Tower is a skyscraper office tower, which houses the headquarters of the European insurance group Arag. It is located in Mörsenbroich, the northern district of Düsseldorf....
, at 131 m (430 ft) in height, it is Düsseldorf's highest office buildingOfficeAn office is generally a room or other area in which people work, but may also denote a position within an organization with specific duties attached to it ; the latter is in fact an earlier usage, office as place originally referring to the location of one's duty. When used as an adjective, the...
; designed by Sir Norman Foster. - Eight bridges span the River Rhine at Düsseldorf; they, too, are city landmarks.
- Eastern pylon of Reisholz Rhine Powerline CrossingReisholz Rhine Powerline CrossingReisholz Rhine Powerline Crossing is a powerline crossing of Rhine River in Düsseldorf south of Holthausen substation, which was built in 1917 and originally part of the 110 kV-line between Reisholz Power Station and Goldenberg Power Station. This line was the first 110 kV-powerline of RWE...
, an electricity pylon under whose legs runs a rail
Notable places
- Kö (KönigsalleeKönigsalleeThe Königsallee is an urban boulevard in Düsseldorf, state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The Königsallee is noted for both the landscaped canal that runs along its center, as well as for the fashion showrooms and luxury retail stores located along its sides.Nicknamed Kö by the...
), a shopping street with luxuries shops - Schloss BenrathSchloss BenrathSchloss Benrath is a Rococo maison de plaisance near Düsseldorf, Germany, erected for the Elector Palatine Charles Theodore by his garden and building director and garden supervisor, Nicolas de Pigage...
, rococo castle - Altstadt (Düsseldorf), the old town
- Düsseldorf-HafenDüsseldorf-HafenDüsseldorf-Hafen means the harbour of Düsseldorf. More than that, Hafen is the name of the Düsseldorf district in which the habour is located.The borough covers 3.85 km2, but there were only 212 inhabitants in the year 2000...
, the harbour is a modern build district - Kaiserswerth, historical district with the ruined castle of Barbarossa Frederick I, Holy Roman EmperorFrederick I, Holy Roman EmperorFrederick I Barbarossa was a German Holy Roman Emperor. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March, crowned King of Italy in Pavia in 1155, and finally crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV, on 18 June 1155, and two years later in 1157 the term...
- HofgartenHofgartenHofgarten is German for "court garden" and refers to the gardens of a seat or Residenz of a noble family, usually a reigning prince or sovereign.Important court gardens with this name are found in:*Ansbach*Augsburg*Bayreuth*Bonn*Coburg*Düsseldorf...
, old city park
Twin towns – Sister cities
Düsseldorf is twinnedTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with:
Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, since 1947, officially since 1988 Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
Chemnitz
Chemnitz
Chemnitz is the third-largest city of the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Chemnitz is an independent city which is not part of any county and seat of the government region Direktionsbezirk Chemnitz. Located in the northern foothills of the Ore Mountains, it is a part of the Saxon triangle...
, Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
, 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...
Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
Chongqing
Chongqing
Chongqing is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities of China. Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities , and the only such municipality in inland China.The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the...
, China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
External links
- Wikidus.de The Wiki for Düsseldorf
- Düsseldorf Official English website of the city
- visitduesseldorf.de Official Düsseldorf Tourist Board
- Düsseldorf City Panoramas
- Burrying the Hoppeditz: Carnival in Düsseldorf
- The Lost City WW2 Bomb Damage 1942/3