Essen
| Essen | |
 |
|
| Coat of arms | Location |
 |
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| Administration | |
| Country | Germany |
|---|---|
| State | North Rhine-Westphalia |
| Admin. region | Düsseldorf |
| District | Urban district |
| City subdivisions | 9 districts, 50 boroughs |
| Lord Mayor | Dr. Wolfgang Reiniger (CDU) |
| Governing parties | CDU / Greens |
| Basic statistics | |
| Area | 210.32 km² (81.2 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 116 m (381 ft) |
| Population | 578,990 (29/09/2007)[1] |
| - Density | 2,753 /km² (7,130 /sq mi) |
| - Metro | 5.302.179 (12/2004) |
| Other information | |
| Time zone | CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2) |
| Licence plate | E |
| Postal codes | 45001-45359 |
| Area codes | 0201, 02054 (Kettwig) |
| Website | www.essen.de |
Essen (pronounced [ˈɛsən]) is a city in the center of the Ruhr Area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Located on the Ruhr River, its population of approximately 579,000 (as of June 30, 2008) makes it the 7th- or 8th-largest-city in Germany. The city was appointed European Capital of Culture for 2010 on behalf of the whole Ruhr Area.
Formerly one of Germany's most important coal and steel centers and historically linked to the centuries-old Krupp family iron works, the city has developed a strong tertiary sector of industry and (sometimes together with nearby Düsseldorf) claims to be the "desk of the Ruhr area"[2]. It is home to 13 of the 100 largest German corporations and seat to several of the region's authorities.
In 1958, the city was chosen to serve as the seat to a Roman Catholic diocese (often referred to as Ruhrbistum or diocese of the Ruhr). In early 2003, the universities of Essen and the nearby city of Duisburg (both established in 1972) were merged into the University of Duisburg-Essen with campuses in both cities and a university hospital in Essen.
Contents |
Geography
Location, neighboring communes and general geography
 Oberhausen |
 Bottrop |
 Gladbeck1 |
 Gelsenkirchen |
 Mülheim an der Ruhr |
 (Map of districts and boroughs) |
 Bochum |
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 Ratingen² |
 Heiligenhaus² |
 Velbert² |
 Hattingen³ |
| 1 Recklinghausen district 2 Mettmann district 3 Ennepe-Ruhr district |
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Essen is located in the center of the Ruhr Area, one of the largest urban areas in Europe (see also: megalopolis), comprising 11 independent cities and 4 districts with some 5.3 million inhabitants. The city limits of Essen itself are 87 km (54 mi) long and border 10 cities, 5 of them independent and 5 kreisangehörig (i.e., belonging to a district), with a total population of approximately 1.4 million.
The city extends over 21 km (13 mi) from north to south and 17 km (11 mi) from west to east, mainly north of the Ruhr River, which forms the Lake Baldeney reservoir in the boroughs of Fischlaken, Kupferdreh, Heisingen and Werden. The lake, a popular recreational area, dates from 1931-1933, when some thousands of unemployed coal miners dredged it with primitive tools for the Reichsarbeitsdienst. Generally, large areas south of the Ruhr River (including the suburbs of Schuir and Kettwig) are quite green and are often used as examples of rural structures in the otherwise relatively densely populated central Ruhr Area.
The lowest point can be found in the northern borough of Karnap at 26.5 m (86.9 ft), the highest point in the borough of Heidhausen (202.5 m/664 ft). The average elevation is 116 m (381 ft).
City districts
Essen comprises 50 boroughs which in turn are grouped into nine suburban districts (called Stadtbezirke) often named after the most important boroughs. Each Stadtbezirk is assigned a Roman numeral and has a local body of nineteen members with limited authority. Most of the boroughs were originally independent municipalities but were gradually annexed from 1901 to 1975. This long-lasting process of annexation has led to a strong identification of the population with "their" boroughs or districts and to a rare peculiarity: The borough of Kettwig, located south of the Ruhr River, and which was not annex until 1975, has its own area code. Additionally (allegedly due to relatively high church tax incomes), the Archbishop of Cologne managed to keep Kettwig directly subject to the Archdiocese of Cologne, whereas all other boroughs of Essen and some neighboring cities constitute the Diocese of Essen.
Climate
The average temperature is 9.6 °C (49 °F), the average annual precipitation 829 millimetres (33 in). The coldest month of the year is January, when the average temperature is 1.5 °C (35 °F). The warmest month is July, with an average temperature of 17.5 °C (63 °F). August has the highest average monthly rainfall: 90 mm (4 in).
History
Origin of the name
Throughout the centuries, the name of the city changed continually. The oldest known form is Asnithi, which changed to Essen by way of forms such as Astnidum, Assinde, Essendia and Esnede. The name Asnithi may have referred either to a region where many ash trees were found or to a region in the East (of the Frankish Empire), though both translations are still disputed. A connection between the city name and the German word Esse (Old High German for fireplace) may be drawn because of the industrial history of the city, but is highly unlikely since the old forms of the city name originate from times before industrialization. What is safe to say, however, is that Essen does not refer to the act of eating (also essen in German).
Early history
The oldest archaeological finds date back to 280,000 B.C. (Vogelheimer Klinge, a blade named after the borough of Vogelheim in the northern part of the city). Other finds date to between 120,000 and 10,000 years old.
Essen was part of the settlement areas of several Germanic peoples (Chatti, Bructeri, Marsi), although a clear distinction among these groupings is difficult.
The Alteburg castle in the south of Essen dates back to the first or second century B.C., the Herrenburg to the 8th century A.D.
8-12th century
Around 845, Saint Altfrid (around 800-874), the later Bishop of Hildesheim, founded an abbey for women (coenobium Astnide) in the center of present-day Essen. The first abbess was Altfrid's relative Gerswit (see also: Essen Abbey). In 799, Saint Liudger had already founded Benedictine Werden Abbey on its own grounds a few kilometers south. The region was sparsely populated with only a few smallholdings and an old and probably abandoned castle. Whereas Werden Abbey sought to support Liudger's missionary work in the Harz region (Helmstedt/Halberstadt), Essen Abbey was meant to care for women of the higher Saxon nobility. This abbey was not an abbey in the ordinary sense, but rather intended as a residence and educational institution for the daughters and widows of the higher nobility; led by an abbess, the members other than the abbess herself were not obliged to take vows of chastity.
Around 852, construction of the collegiate church of the abbey began, to be completed in 870. A major fire in 946 heavily damaged both the church and the settlement. The church was rebuilt, expanded considerably, and is the foundation of the present Essen Cathedral.
The first documented mention of Essen dates back to 898, when Zwentibold, King of Lotharingia, willed territory on the western bank of the Rhine River to the abbey. Another document, describing the foundation of the abbey and allegedly dating back to 870, is now considered an 11th-century forgery.
In 971, Mathilde II, granddaughter of Emperor Otto I, took charge of the abbey. She was to become the most important of all abbesses in the history of Essen. She reigned for over 40 years, and endowed the abbey's treasury with invaluable objects such as the oldest preserved seven branched candelabrum, and the Golden Madonna of Essen, the oldest known sculpture of the Virgin Mary in the world. Mathilde was succeeded by other women related to the Ottonian emperors: Sophia, daughter of Otto II and sister of Otto III, and Teophanu, granddaughter of Otto II. It was under the reign of Teophanu that Essen, which had been called a city since 1003, received the right to hold markets in 1041. Ten years later, Teophanu had the eastern part of Essen Abbey constructed. Its crypt contains the tombs of St. Altfrid, Mathilde II, and Teophanu herself.
13-17th century
In 1216, the abbey, which had only been an important landowner until then, gained the status of a princely residence when Emperor Frederick II called abbess Elisabeth I Reichsfürstin (Princess of the Empire) in an official letter. In 1244, 28 years later, Essen received its town charter and seal when Konrad von Hochstaden, the Archbishop of Cologne, marched into the city and erected a city wall together with the population. This proved a temporary emancipation of the population of the city from the princess-abbesses, but this lasted only until 1290. That year, King Rudolph I restored the princess-abbesses to full sovereignty over the city, much to the dismay of the population of the growing city, who called for self-administration and Reichsunmittelbarkeit. The title free imperial city was finally granted by Emperor Charles IV in 1377. However, in 1372, Charles had paradoxically endorsed Rudolph I's 1290 decision and hence left both the abbey and the city in imperial favor. Disputes between the city and the abbey about supremacy over the region remained common until the abbey's dissolution in 1803. Many lawsuits were filed at the Reichskammergericht, one of them lasting almost 200 years. The final decision of the court in 1670 was that the city had to be "duly obedient in do's and don'ts" to the abbesses but could maintain its old rights—a decision that did not really solve any of the problems.
In 1563, the city council, with its self-conception as the only legitimate ruler of Essen, introduced the Protestant Reformation. The Catholic abbey had no troops to counter this development.
Thirty Years' War
During the Thirty Years' War, the Protestant city and the Catholic abbey opposed each other. In 1623, princess-abbess Maria Clara von Spaur, Pflaum und Valör managed to direct Catholic Spaniards against the city in order to initiate a counter-reformation. In 1624, a "re-Catholicization" law was enacted, and churchgoing was strictly controlled. In 1628, the city council filed against this at the Reichskammergericht. Maria had to flee to Cologne when the Dutch stormed the city in 1629. She returned in the summer of 1631 following the Bavarians under Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim, only to leave again in September. She died 1644 in Cologne.
The war proved a severe blow to the city, with frequent arrests, kidnapping, and rape. Even after the Peace of Westphalia from 1648, troops remained in the city until September 9, 1650.
Industrialization
The first historic evidence of the important mining tradition of Essen date back to the 14th century, when the princess-abbess was granted mining rights. The first silver mine opened in 1354, but the indisputably more important coal was not mentioned until 1371, and coal mining only began in 1450.
At the end of the 16th century, many coal mines had opened in Essen, and the city earned a name as a center of the weapons industry. Around 1570, gunsmiths made high profits and in 1620, they produced 14,000 rifles and pistols a year. The city became increasingly important strategically.
The factories of the Krupp family gained particular importance. Resident in Essen since the 16th century, the Krupp dynasty and Essen shaped each other. In 1811, Friedrich Krupp founded Germany's first cast-steel factory in Essen and laid the cornerstone for what was to be the largest enterprise in Europe for a couple of decades. The weapon factories in Essen became so important that a sign facing the main railway station welcomed visitors to the "Armory of the Reich" during World War II. The Krupp Works also were the main reason for the large population growth beginning in the mid-19th century. Essen reached a population of 100,000 in 1896. Other industrialists, such as Friedrich Grillo, who in 1892 donated the Grillo Theater to the city, also played a major role in the shaping of the city and the Ruhr region in the late 19th and early 20th century. Although no weaponry is produced in Essen any more, old industrial enterprises such as ThyssenKrupp and RWE remain large employers in the city. Foundations such as the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung still promote the well-being of the city, for example by supporting a hospital and spending €55 Million for a new building for the Museum Folkwang, one of the Ruhr Area's major art museums.
See the article about the Krupp family for more information about industrialization in Essen.
Politics
Historical development
The administration of Essen had for a long time been in the hands of the princess-abbesses as heads of the Imperial Abbey of Essen. However, from the 14th century onward, the city council increasingly grew in importance. In 1335, it started choosing two burgomasters, one of whom was placed in charge of the treasury. In 1377, Essen was granted Reichsunmittelbarkeit [4] but had to abandon this privilege later on. Between the early 15th and 20th centuries, the political system of Essen underwent several changes, most importantly the introduction of the Protestant Reformation in 1563, the annexation of 1802 by Prussia, and the subsequent secularization of the principality in 1803. The territory was made part of the Prussian Province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg from 1815-22, after which it became part of the Prussian Rhine Province until its dissolution in 1946.
During the time of Nazi Germany (1933-1945), mayors were installed by the Nazi Party. After World War II, the military government of the British occupation zone installed a new mayor and a municipal constitution modeled on that of British cities. Later, the city council was again elected by the population. The mayor was elected by the council as its head and as the city's main representative. The administration was led by a full time Oberstadtdirektor. In 1999, the position of Oberstadtdirektor was abolished in North Rhine-Westphalia and the mayor became both main representative and administrative head. In addition, the population now elects the mayor directly.
City council
The last local elections took place on September 26, 2004. As a result, Dr. Wolfgang Reiniger (CDU) was elected Lord Mayor and the following political parties gained seats in the city council:
| CDU (Christian Democrats) |
SPD (Social Democrats) |
GRÜNE (Greens) |
Essener Bürgerbündnis (Independent) |
FDP Alternative Essen (Liberals) |
REP (National Conservatives) |
PDS (Democratic Socialists) |
DKP (Communists) |
Essen steht AUF (MLPD) (Marxist-Leninists) |
Total |
| 32 | 28 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 82 |
The city is governed by a coalition of Reiniger's CDU and the Greens.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms of the city of Essen is a heraldic peculiarity. Granted in 1886, it is a so-called Allianzwappen (arms of alliance) and consists of two separate shields under a single crown. Most other coats of arms of cities show a wall instead of a crown. The crown, however, does not refer to the city of Essen itself, but instead to the secularized ecclesiastical principality of Essen under the reign of the princess-abbesses. The dexter (heraldically right) escutcheon shows the double-headed Imperial Eagle of the Holy Roman Empire, granted to the city in 1623. The sinister (heraldically left) escutcheon is one of the oldest emblems of Essen and shows a sword that people believed was used to behead the city's patrons Saints Cosmas and Damian. People tend to connect the sword in the left shield with one found in the Cathedral Treasury. This sword, however, is much younger [5]. A slightly modified and more heraldically correct version of the arms can be found on the roof of the Handelshof hotel near the main station.
Sister Cities
Essen's sister cities are:
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The City of Monessen, PA, situated along the Monongahela River, was named after the river and Essen.[6]
Industry and infrastructure
Major companies based in Essen
Essen is seat to several large companies, among them the ThyssenKrupp industrial conglomerate which is also registered in Duisburg and originates from a 1999 merger between Duisburg-based Thyssen AG and Essen-based Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp. The largest company registered only in Essen is Germany's second-largest electric utility RWE AG. Other major companies include Germany's largest construction company Hochtief AG, as well as ALDI Nord, Evonik Industries, Arcandor AG, Medion AG, and Deichmann, Europe's largest shoe retailer. With Eon-Ruhrgas, Germany's largest gas company also has its seat in Essen. The Coca-Cola Company had also originally established their German headquarters in Essen (around 1930), where it remained until 2003, when it was moved to the capital Berlin.
Fairs
The city's fair grounds host some 50 trade fairs each year. With around 530.000 visitors each year, Essen Motor Show, the top international car tuning fair, is by far the largest event held there. Other important fairs open to the consumers include SPIEL, the world's biggest consumer fair for gaming and also occasion of the presentation of the Essen Feather and of the Deutscher Spiele Preis, Techno-Classica (vintage cars) and one of the leading fairs for equestrian sports, Equitana, held every two years. Important fairs restricted to professionals include Security (security and fire protection), IPM (gardening) and E-World (energy and water).
Media
The Westdeutscher Rundfunk has a studio in Essen, which is responsible for the central Ruhr Area. Each day, it produces a 30-minute regional evening news magazine (called Lokalzeit Ruhr), a 5-minute afternoon news program, and several radio news programs. A local broadcasting station went "on-the-air" in the late 1990s. The WAZ Media Group is one of the most important (print) media companies in Europe and publishes the Ruhr Area's two most important daily newspapers, Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ; 580.000 copies) and Neue Ruhr/Rhein Zeitung (NRZ; 180.000 copies). In Essen, the WAZ Group also publishes the local Borbecker Nachrichten (at times Germany's largest local newspaper) and Werdener Nachrichten, both of which are formerly independent weekly newspapers for parts of Essen. Additionally, Axel Springer run a printing facility for their boulevard-style daily paper Bild in Essen.
Education
One renowned educational institution in Essen is the Folkwang Academy, a University of the Arts founded in 1927, which is headquartered in Essen and has additional facilities in Duisburg, Bochum and Dortmund.
The University of Duisburg-Essen, which resulted from a 2003 merger of the universities of Essen and Duisburg, is one of Germany's "youngest" universities. One of its primary research areas is urban systems (i.e., sustainable development, logistics and transportation), a theme largely inspired by the highly urbanized Ruhr area. Other fields include nanotechnology, discrete mathematics and "education in the 21st century". Another university in Essen is the private Fachhochschule für Oekonomie und Management, a university of applied sciences with over 6000 students and branches in 15 other major cities throughout Germany.
Medicine
Essen offers a highly diversified health care system with more than 1,350 resident doctors and almost 6,000 beds in 13 hospitals, including a university hospital. The university hospital dates back to 1909, when the city council established a municipal hospital; although it was largely destroyed during World War II, it was later rebuilt, and finally gained the title of a university hospital in 1963. It focuses on diseases of the circulatory system (West German Heart Centre Essen), oncology and transplantation medicine, with the department of bone marrow transplantation being the second-largest of its kind in the world.
Transportation
The road network of Essen consists of 3,227 streets, which in total have a length of 1,595 km (991 mi).
Freeways
The Ruhrschnellweg (A40) runs directly through the city, dividing it roughly in half. A tunnel was built in the 1970s, when the then-Bundesstraße was upgraded to Autobahn standards, so that the A40 is hidden from public view in the inner-city district near the main station. As with most freeways in the Ruhr Area, the Ruhrschnellweg suffers from congestion during rush hours, which is why many people in the area do not call it Ruhrschnellweg (Ruhr fast way) but nicknamed it Ruhrschleichweg (Ruhr crawling way). Other major Autobahns include the A52, which (coming from Duesseldorf) enters the city limits at Kettwig, continues past the fairground through the southern borough of Rüttenscheid, and then merges with the Ruhrschnellweg at the Autobahndreieck Essen-Ost junction. A proposed extension to replace B224 in the northern boroughs has not yet been realized. In the northern borough of Karnap, the A42 briefly touches Essen territory, serving as an interconnection between the neighboring cities of Oberhausen and Gelsenkirchenand destinations beyond.
Public transport
Local transport is carried out by Essener Verkehrs-AG, a public company operating the Essen Stadtbahn (partly with used Docklands Light Railway stock), 7 tram and 48 bus lines (83 and 459 km (285 mi) total length, respectively). As a speciality, Essen has a Spurbus guided bus line on the median of the A40 autobahn connecting the city centre to the borough of Kray, as well as a Stadtbahn line on the median of the same autobahn leading towards Mülheim.
Via Essen Hauptbahnhof, the city is connected to the InterCityExpress network of high-speed trains and the general long distance networks operated by Deutsche Bahn. Minor so-called Regionalbahnhöfe (regional railway stations) are situated in the boroughs of Altenessen, Borbeck, Kray (south) and Steele, and 20 further S-Bahn stations in the whole urban area. The first railway line to run over now-Essen territory was the Köln-Mindener Eisenbahn, which opened in 1847 with a stop at Altenessen. The station still exists, though it was renamed from Essen to "Essen-Altenessen" when the Bergisch-Märkische Eisenbahn from Mülheim an der Ruhr to Bochum opened in 1862.
All local and DB regional traffic is subject to the fare structure of the VRR transportation association.
Sights in Essen
Zollverein Industrial Complex
Coal mine (built in 1932, closed in 1986) and coking plant (built in 1961, closed in 1993). Visitors now have access to the precincts, which frequently house temporary art exhibitions. Once the largest sub-surface coal mine in the world, it has been awarded World Cultural Heritage status by UNESCO.
Villa Hügel
Built at the end of the 19th century by industrial magnate Alfred Krupp as a representative seat to his family, the real estate register solely lists the 269-room mansion (8,100 m2/87,190 sq ft) surrounded by a park of 28 ha (69.2 acres) as a single-family house. Today, the mansion houses exhibitions and music concerts.
Essen Cathedral
A 14th-century cathedral with a westwork and crypt from the 10th century, rebuilt in 1958. It is not spectacular in appearance, but has some exquisite artworks from around 1000 AD on display in the attached treasure house: a crown of Emperor Otto III and the oldest preserved sculpture of the Virgin Mary in the world (Goldene Madonna, commonly referred to as Essen sein Schatz, to translate literally "Essen its treasure").
Alte Synagoge
The Jewish community inaugurated the synagogue in 1913. Destroyed by fire in the Nazi pogroms of 1938, it was restored after World War II. It stands as the largest synagogue north of the Alps.
Essen city hall
Germany's highest city hall (106 m/348 ft), built from 1971 to 1979. Free guided tours offer a view from the 22nd floor, overlooking the city from 100 m (330 ft) above ground.
Limbecker Platz
The shopping mall is one of the largest shopping malls in Germany. Because the shopping center is still under construction, only the first part was opened. On March, 13th 2008 the first part was opened with 100 shops covering 35,000 square meters. It was prior to these new developments the northernmost point of Germany's first designated pedestrian-only inner city shopping area. The "Limbecker Strasse" connects it with the peripherie of "Kennedyplatz" (the heart of the city) and with "Kettwiger Strasse", the southern leg of beforesaid pedestrian zone which leads to the main railway station called "Essen Hauptbahnhof".
german Article "Limbecker Platz"
RWE tower
The 2nd-highest skyscraper in North Rhine Westphalia and corporate headquarters of the second largest electric power company in Germany (after E.ON) RWE AG, situated across the street from the Aalto theatre (Opernplatz 1).
Aalto Theater
Popular opera house designed by Finnish architect Alvar Aalto, opened in 1988.
Essen-Werden
Once a town of its own, it became a borough of Essen in 1929; the center of the town has partly retained its medieval townscape with many pubs and restaurants. It stands near the Lake Baldeney and hosts the Folkwang College of Music and Performing Arts.
Kettwig
Located south of the Ruhr river, and also once a town of its own, it was incorporated in 1975. Until today, residents of Kettwig can only be called using an area code different from that of the rest of Essen. Additionally (allegedly because of relatively high church tax incomes), the Archbishop of Cologne managed to keep Kettwig part of the Archbishopric of Cologne, whereas all other parts of Essen and some neighbouring cities constitute the Diocese of Essen (Ruhrbistum).
Notable residents
- Mille Petrozza (born 1966) – musician (Guitarist,Vocalist in German Thrash metal band Kreator)
- Christian Keller (born 1972) – medley and freestyle swimmer
- Jens Lehmann (born 1969) – German footballer, goalkeeper
- Frank Mill (born 1958) – German footballer
- Diether Krebs (born 1947) – actor and comedian
- Jürgen Bartsch (born 1946) – serial killer
- Otto Rehhagel (born 1938) – German footballer and football coach
- Elisabeth Volkmann (born 1936) – actress and voice actor
- Alfred Herrhausen (born 1930) – banker
- Helmut Rahn (born 1929) – German football legend
- Uta Ranke-Heinemann (born 1927) – theologian and author
- Theo Albrecht (born 1922) – entrepreneur
- Hildegard Hamm-Brücher (born 1921) – politician
- Karl Albrecht (born 1920) – entrepreneur
- Gunter d'Alquen (born 1910) – publisher
- Peter Anders (born 1908) – singer
- Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach (born 1907) – member of the Krupp dynasty
- Heinz Rühmann (born 1902) – actor
- Josef Terboven (born 1898) – Nazi leader
- Franz Blücher (born 1896) – politician
- Carl Humann (born 1839) – discoverer of the Pergamon Altar.
- Alfred Krupp (born 1812) – member of the Krupp dynasty
- Karl Baedeker (born 1801) – publisher
- Johann Julius Hecker (born 1707 in Werden, today Essen-Werden) – educator
- Johan van Galen (born 1604) – commodore in the navy of the United Provinces of the Netherlands
- Jan-Hendrik Grosch – the most famous biological chemical engineer who prefected cloning (X-Fusion/Noisuf-X/Kombat Unit)
References
- Most sections of this article are translations from the German Wikipedia. The versions used can be found under the following three links: [2], [3] and [4]. The original authors of the German language version can be found here
Footnotes
External links
- Official city website
- Essen City Panoramas — Panoramic Views and virtual Tours
- Pictures from Kettwig
- World Cities Images. Germany. Essen
- Memorials in Essen at sites-of-memory.de
- ConRuhr - Academic Liaison Office for Universities of Duisburg-Essen, Dortmund, Bochum
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