Herzogenrath

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Herzogenrath


Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Administrative region	Cologne
District	Aachen
Population	47,211 source (2005)
Area	33.40 km²
Population density	1,414 /km²
Elevation	140 m
Coordinates	50°52′ N 6°6′ E
Postal code	52134
Area code	02406, 02407
Licence plate code	AC
Mayor	Gerd Zimmermann (CDU)
Website	herzogenrath.de

Herzogenrath is a town in the district of Aachen in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. As of 2004 it has a population of 47,210.

It borders onto the Dutch town of Kerkrade, the national border in one section running along the middle of a main road.

Herzogenrath began as a settlement, called Rode, near the river Wurm in the 11th century. In 1104 Augustinian monks founded an abbey, called Kloosterrade, to the west of this settlement.

It became 's-Hertogenrode or 's-Hertogenrade (Dutch: the Duke's Rode) after the duchy of Brabant took controle over the region; in French it was called Rolduc (Rode-le-Duc).

As is the case for many parts of Limburg, Herzogenrath changed hands several times in the last few centuries. Together with the (other) Southern Netherlands it was under Spanish control from 1661, Austrian between 1713 and 1795 and French between 1795 and 1813. In 1815, when the kingdom of the Netherlands was formed (see Vienna Congress), the border was drawn through the town, the eastern part being Prussian Herzogenrath, the western part being Dutch Kerkrade. The former abbey is now the Rolduc Congress Center in Kerkrade.