Bergisch-Gladbach

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Bergisch Gladbach
Old town hall in Bergisch Gladbach
Bergisch Gladbach
Coordinates	51°06′00″N 07°07′00″E / 51.1°N 7.1166667°E / 51.1; 7.1166667
Administration
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Cologne
District	Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis
City subdivisions	6
Mayor	Lutz Urbach (CDU)
Basic statistics
Area	83.12 km2 (32.09 sq mi)
Elevation	51 - 267 m
Population	110,217  (30 June 2007)
- Density	1,326 /km2 (3,434 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	GL
Postal codes	51401-51469
Area codes	02202, 02204, 02207
Website	www.bergischgladbach.de
Location of the town of Bergisch Gladbach within Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis district

Bergisch Gladbach (help·info) is a city and capital of the Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis (district), in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Geography

Bergisch Gladbach is located east of the river Rhine, approx. 10 kilometers east of Cologne.

Neighbouring municipalities

Beginning in the north clockwise the neighbouring municipalities and neighbouring towns are: Odenthal, Kürten, Overath, Rösrath, Cologne and Leverkusen.

History

Early settlements existed in the 13th century, but the town was officially founded in 1856.

Old castle and town hall of Bensberg

The word “Bergisch” in the name does not originate from its location in the earldom of Berg and was not added to distinguish it from Mönchengladbach as believed by many people, but from the earls who gave their name to the region. At the start of the 12th century the earls of "Berg" settled in the area and it became the grand duchy of "Berg". This is where the first part of the name (Bergisch) comes from.

The second part of the name is a lot harder to explain in English, as it originates from Low German (Bergisches Platt). "Gladbach" evolved from the stream "Strunde", which received an artificial river bed in early medieval times. Basically the river was "laid" which means "gelaat" in "Bergisch Platt", the slang/dialect of the region. During the centuries the word "gelaat" evolved and was rounded by the people to "glad". The second part of the word, "bach" stands for stream, meant is the "Strunde". Basically "Gladbach" means stream with an artificially laid river bed.

In 1975 the city incorporated the neighbouring Bensberg and when it reached a population of 100,000 in 1977 it received the rank of a city.

Economy

Its principal industries include paper manufacturing, printing, glasswool manufacturing and high tech.

International relations

Twin towns — sister cities

Bergisch Gladbach is twinned with:

	Country	Place		County / District / Region / State	Date
	France	Bourgoin-Jallieu		Rhône-Alpes	1956
	United Kingdom	Luton		Bedfordshire	1956
	Netherlands	Velsen			1956
	France	Joinville-le-Pont			1960
	United Kingdom	Runnymede			1965
	Lithuania	Marijampolė			1989
	Cyprus	Limassol			1991
	Poland	Pszczyna		Silesian voivodship, pszczyński county, Pszczyna gmina	1993

Born in Bergisch Gladbach

• Astrid Benöhr, German endurance athlete
• Wolfgang Bosbach, German politician
• Fabian Hambüchen, German gymnast
• Mats Hummels, German association football player
• Heidi Klum, German supermodel
• Georg Koch, German football goalkeeper
• Tim Wiese, German football goalkeeper

Schools in Bergisch Gladbach

• Albertus-Magnus-Gymnasium Bensberg/Bergisch Gladbach, High School
• Gymnasium Herkenrath/Bergisch Gladbach, High School
• Nicolaus-Cusanus-Gymnasium Bergisch Gladbach, High School
• Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium Bensberg/Bergisch Gladbach, High School

External links

• Bergisch Gladbach Official site (German)
• Fire Department Bergisch Gladbach (German)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bergisch Gladbach

v • d • e Cities in Germany by population 1,000,000+ Berlin · Hamburg · Munich 500,000+ Bremen · Cologne · Dortmund · Dresden · Düsseldorf · Essen · Frankfurt · Hanover · Leipzig · Nuremberg · Stuttgart 200,000+ Aachen · Augsburg · Bielefeld · Bochum · Bonn · Braunschweig · Chemnitz · Duisburg · Erfurt · Freiburg im Breisgau · Gelsenkirchen · Halle an der Saale · Karlsruhe · Kiel · Krefeld · Lübeck · Magdeburg · Mannheim · Münster · Mönchengladbach · Oberhausen · Rostock · Wiesbaden · Wuppertal 100,000+ Bergisch Gladbach · Bottrop · Bremerhaven · Cottbus · Darmstadt · Erlangen · Fürth · Gera · Göttingen · Hagen · Hamm · Heidelberg · Heilbronn · Herne · Hildesheim · Ingolstadt · Jena · Kassel · Koblenz · Leverkusen · Ludwigshafen · Mainz · Moers · Mülheim an der Ruhr · Neuss · Offenbach am Main · Oldenburg · Osnabrück · Paderborn · Pforzheim · Potsdam · Recklinghausen · Regensburg · Remscheid · Reutlingen · Saarbrücken · Salzgitter · Siegen · Solingen · Trier · Ulm · Witten · Wolfsburg · Würzburg

v • d • e Towns and municipalities in Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis Bergisch Gladbach | Burscheid | Kürten | Leichlingen | Odenthal | Overath | Rösrath | Wermelskirchen