Monschau

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Monschau
Slate-roof houses and ruined castle of Monschau
Coat of arms	Location

Administration
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Cologne
District	Aachen
Town subdivisions	7
Mayor	Theo Steinröx (CDU)
Basic statistics
Area	94.620312003 km² (36.5 sq mi)
Elevation	517 m (1696 ft)
Population	12,917 (31/12/2006)
- Density	137 /km² (354 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	AC
Postal code	52156
Area code	02472
Website	www.monschau.de Coordinates: 50°33′36″N 06°15′23″E / 50.56, 6.25639

Monschau (French: Montjoie) is a town in the west of Germany, located in the district Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia.

[edit] Geography

The town is located in the hills of the Eifel, in the narrow valley of the Rur river.

The historic town center was not destroyed in World War II, thus the many half-timbered houses and narrow streets nearly unchanged for 300 years make it a popular tourist attraction nowadays. Historically the main industry of the town were cloth-mills.

[edit] History

Above the city is the castle Monschau, which dates back to the 13th century — in 1198 the first mention of Monschau was made. Starting in 1433 the castle was used as a seat of the dukes of Jülich. In 1543 Emperor Charles V. besieged it as part of the Geldern Feud, captured it and plundered the town. However the castle stayed with Jülich until 1609, then it became part of Palatinate-Neuburg.

In 1795 the French captured the area, and under the name Montjoie made it the capital of a canton of the Roer département. After the area became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1815, Monschau became the capital of a district, the Kreis Montjoie. In 1918 William II, German Emperor, changed the name to Monschau.

In 1972 the town was enlarged with the previous independent municipalities Höfen, Imgenbroich, Kalterherberg, Konzen, Mützenich and Rohren.