Euskirchen

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Euskirchen
Coat of arms	Location

Administration
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Cologne
District	Euskirchen
Mayor	Uwe Friedl (CDU)
Basic statistics
Area	139.63 km² (53.9 sq mi)
Elevation	137 m (449 ft)
Population	55,235 (30/06/2006)
- Density	396 /km² (1,025 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	EU
Postal codes	53879–53881
Area codes	02251, 02255
Website	www.euskirchen.de Coordinates: 50°39′35″N 6°47′30″E / 50.65972, 6.79167

Euskirchen is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the district Euskirchen. While Euskirchen resembles a modern shopping town, it also has a history dating back over 700 years, having been granted town-status in 1302. As of December 2005, it had a population of just over 55,000.

Euskirchen, old market (Alter Markt).

[edit] Culture

Parts of the ancient town wall, and three of its defensive towers, are still standing. Tourists are also attracted by Euskirchen due to the proximity of two large cities, Cologne and Bonn, to the North-East, and the hills of the Eifel region to the South. It is also the birthplace of Emil Fischer, born 1852, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1902. German pop singer Jamie Stevens (who has achieved international fame in the late 1990s) was also born in Euskirchen but does not reside there anymore. The local theatre in The Emil Fischer Gymnasium offers a wide variety of cultural events. In addition to that The City Forum and the Parkhotel Euskirchen contribute to the cultural offerings.