Unkel is a municipality in the district of Neuwied

Neuwied (district)

Neuwied is a district in the north of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Neighboring districts are Rhein-Sieg, Altenkirchen, Westerwaldkreis, Mayen-Koblenz, Ahrweiler.-History:...

, in Rhineland-Palatinate

Rhineland-Palatinate

Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....

, 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...

. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, near Remagen

Remagen

Remagen is a town in Germany in Rhineland-Palatinate, in the district of Ahrweiler. It is about a one hour drive from Cologne , just south of Bonn, the former West German capital. It is situated on the River Rhine. There is a ferry across the Rhine from Remagen every 10–15 minutes in the summer...

, approx. 20 km southeast of Bonn

Bonn

Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....

.

Unkel is the seat of the Verbandsgemeinde

Verbandsgemeinde

A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit in the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.-Rhineland-Palatinate:...

("collective municipality") Unkel

Unkel (Verbandsgemeinde)

Unkel is a Verbandsgemeinde in the district of Neuwied, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The seat of the Verbandsgemeinde is in Unkel....

.

Religion

Unkel is primarily Catholic. Approximately 55% of the inhabitants are Catholic and 15% Protestant. 18% of the residents don't belong to a religious denomination, 8% are Muslim.

Geographical position

The city is located at then verge of the "Naturpark Rhein-Westerwald" at the Middle Rhine Valley, the downtown is about 4 km away from the border to 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...

Neighbor townships

Unkel abuts on (from North to South) Rheinbreitbach, Bruchhausen, Windhagen, Linz, Erpel und Remagen.

Sights

The most important sight is the "Freiligrathaus", which is located at the Rhine promenade. It is a baroque palace, built in 1760. Ferdinand Freiligrath lived there from 1839 until 1841.

The rich-featured Catholic parish church "St. Pantaleon" accommodates a feretory (a receptacle for the relcis of saints).
Additionally, most of the old city wall is well-preserved.

Famous citizens

• Willy Brandt
  Willy Brandt
  Willy Brandt, born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm , was a German politician, Mayor of West Berlin 1957–1966, Chancellor of West Germany 1969–1974, and leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany 1964–1987....
  
  , former Chancellor of Germany, spent the last years of his life, from 1979 until 1992, in Unkel. Many famous politicians visited him there, like Helmut Kohl
  Helmut Kohl
  Helmut Josef Michael Kohl is a German conservative politician and statesman. He was Chancellor of Germany from 1982 to 1998 and the chairman of the Christian Democratic Union from 1973 to 1998...
  
   or Mikhail Gorbachev
  Mikhail Gorbachev
  Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
  
  . The market place is named after him. His work room can be visited on request.
• Konrad Adenauer
  Konrad Adenauer
  Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman. He was the chancellor of the West Germany from 1949 to 1963. He is widely recognised as a person who led his country from the ruins of World War II to a powerful and prosperous nation that had forged close relations with old enemies France,...
  
  , who became first Chancellor
  Chancellor
  Chancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the...
  
   of West Germany
  West Germany
  West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
  
  , found refuge in Unkel during the time of national socialism.
• Fritz Henkel, the inventor of Persil
  Persil
  Persil is a brand of laundry detergent currently and originally made by Henkel & Cie; but which is now also licensed for manufacture, distribution, and marketing in several countries by the Unilever Corporation. Henkel and Unilever both manufacture their own formulations...
  
   (laundry detergent) and founder of the 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 ,...
  
   Company, had his summer home in Unkel. He donated a fire-brigade car and a park, which was named after him.
• Ferdinand Freiligrath
  Ferdinand Freiligrath
  Ferdinand Freiligrath was a German poet, translator and liberal agitator.-Biography:Freiligrath was born in Detmold, Principality of Lippe. His father was a teacher. He left a Detmold gymnasium at 16 to be trained for a commercial career in Soest...
  
  , a German writer, started his literary career in Unkel. The house he lived in is now called Freiligrathaus.
• Stefan Andres, author of the novella 'Wir sind Utopia'.
• Leonhard Reinirkens, a writer, is honorary citizen of Unkel.