Wuppertal

history

church in Wuppertal]]

Wuppertal () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the Wupper river south of the Ruhr area. Population 361,333 (2005).

Two thirds of the total municipal area is green belt: woods, meadows, gardens and fields. From any part of the city it is only a ten-minute walk to one of the public parks or shady woodland path. At the same time it is a major industrial centre including such industries as: textiles, metallurgy, chemicals, medicine (Bayer), electric, rubber, vehicles and printing equipment. One of the most famous pain-killers, Aspirin, was invented in Wuppertal by Bayer.

The prestigious Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy is located in this city.

History

The city was formed in 1929 by merging Barmen, Elberfeld, Vohwinkel, Ronsdorf, Cronenberg, Langerfeld, and Beyenburg. The name was initially Barmen-Elberfeld, and after 1930 Wuppertal (“Wupper Valley”). The new city was administered within the Prussian Rhine Province.

Uniquely for Germany it is a linear city, owing to the steep hillsides along the river Wupper. Its highest hill is the Lichtscheid which is 351 metres above sea level. The dominating city-centres Elberfeld (historic commercial centre) and Barmen (more industrial) form a united built-up area since 1850. In the following decades, this “Wupper-Town” became the dominating industrial agglomeration of the territories in northwestern Germany. Before the 19th century ended, this conurbation had been surpassed by Cologne, Düsseldorf and the Ruhr area, all with much more favourable topography.

During World War II, it was destroyed to about 40% by the Allies as were many other industrial centres at the time. However, a large number of historic sites have been preserved, such as

  • Ă–lberg (literally “Oil mountain”, the German word for Mount of Olives), Germany’s largest working class district, protected as a historic monument. The name came about in the 1920s as the surrounding bourgeois residential quarters already had electric light, while this district still used oil lamps.

  • Brill, one of Germany’s largest districts of GrĂĽnderzeit villas, i. e. bourgeois mansions, built in the second half of the 19th century.

After the war, Wuppertal became a part of the British Zone of Occupation, and subsequently a part of the new state North Rhine-Westphalia in West Germany.

Main sights

In total, Wuppertal possesses over 4,500 buildings classified as national monuments, most dating from styles as Neoclassicism, Eclecticism, Historicism, Art NouveauJugendstil and Bauhaus.

Main sights include:

  • Concert hall, a fine masterpiece of turn-of-the-century architecture ([http://www.stadthalle-wuppertal.de Stadthalle]),
  • Wuppertal Dance Theatre (Tanztheater Wuppertal), headed by Pina Bausch, is world-famous,
  • Engels house (Engelshaus), architecturally typical of the region. It houses a permanent display of materials associated with Friedrich Engels and other famous citizens of Wuppertal,
  • Wuppertal Zoo, one of the largest, most nicely landscaped zoos in Germany with many rare animals,
  • Botanischer Garten Wuppertal, a municipal botanical garden,
  • Arboretum Burgholz, an extensive arboretum,
  • Von der Heydt Museum, one of the most important galleries in Germany, with works by 19th and 20th century artists. The first of Picasso’s works that ever appeared in public was displayed here.

Schwebebahn

One of the city’s greatest attractions is the suspended monorail (“Wuppertaler Schwebebahn”), which was established in 1901. The tracks are above the streets and above the Wupper river.

Wuppertal in the arts

  • The play Die Wupper by Else Lasker-SchĂĽler takes places in Elberfeld.
  • The 2000 movie The Princess and the Warrior by Tom Tykwer, was filmed in Wuppertal.
  • In the 1974 Wim Wenders film Alice in the Cities, the main characters visit Wuppertal.

Noted people from Wuppertal

Sports

In 2010 it will be the host city of Rink Hockey European Championship.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Wuppertal is twinned with: {| cellpadding="10" |- valign="top" |
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References

home | This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. See full license termsIt uses material from the Wikipedia article "Wuppertal ". | compliance | March 20th 2010