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Wuppertal

 
Dictionary: Wup·per·tal   (vʊp'ər-täl') pronunciation

A city of west-central Germany north-northeast of Düsseldorf. It is an industrial center. Population: 358,000.

 

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City (pop, 2002 est.: 364,784), northwestern Germany. Located on the Wupper River, it was formed as Barmen-Elberfeld in 1929 through the amalgamation of the towns of Barmen, Elberfeld, Beyenburg, Cronenberg, Ronsdorf, and Vohwinkel. Its name was changed to Wuppertal in 1930. The region was noted for its textile production as early as the 16th century, and the modern city remains a textile-manufacturing centre. Other industrial products include chemicals, rubber, and machinery. Wuppertal has numerous parks and public gardens and a well-known zoo.

For more information on Wuppertal, visit Britannica.com.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Wuppertal
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Wuppertal (vʊp'ərtäl), city (1994 pop. 386,625), North Rhine-Westphalia, W Germany, on the Wupper River. It is an industrial center, formed in 1929 by the merger of Barmen, Elberfeld, Vohwinkel, and several smaller towns. Manufactures include textiles, machinery, tools, chemicals, rubber, vehicles, printing equipment, and beer. Barmen was first mentioned in the 11th cent. and Elberfeld in the 12th cent. Elberfeld pioneered in legislation for poor relief with a system that it adopted in the mid-19th cent. and that was widely imitated (see poor law). As a major production center of ball bearings and chemicals in World War II, the city was heavily damaged by Allied bombing raids. Noteworthy buildings include the city hall (1912-22) and the opera house (1956). There is a museum of the history of clocks and watches.


Wikipedia: Wuppertal
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Wuppertal
Wuppertal Elberfeld
Wuppertal Elberfeld
Coat of arms of Wuppertal
Wuppertal is located in Germany
Wuppertal
Administration
Country Germany
State North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region Düsseldorf
District Urban district
Lord Mayor Peter Jung (CDU)
Governing parties CDUSPD
Basic statistics
Area 168.41 km2 (65.02 sq mi)
Elevation 100-350 m
Population  356,420  (31 December 2007)[1]
 - Density 2,116 /km2 (5,481 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate W
Postal codes 42001-42399
Area code 0202
Website wuppertal.de

Coordinates: 51°16′0″N 07°11′0″E / 51.266667°N 7.183333°E / 51.266667; 7.183333

Wuppertal
Wuppertal University
Sankt Laurentius church in Wuppertal

Wuppertal (German pronunciation: [ˈvʊpɐtaːl]) 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.

Contents

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

  • Ölberg (“Oil mountain”), 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 Gründerzeit 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 Nouveau/Jugendstil and Bauhaus.

Main sights include:

Schwebebahn

The Schwebebahn in Wuppertal

One of the city’s greatest attractions is the suspended monorail (“Wuppertaler Schwebebahn”), which was established in 1901. The tracks are 8 m above the streets and 12 m above the Wupper river.



Wuppertal in the arts

Noted people from Wuppertal

See also the related Category:People from Wuppertal.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Wuppertal is twinned with:


A panorama view over the Ölberg in Wuppertal
The Schwebebahn line in Wuppertal

References

  1. ^ Information und Technik Nordrhein-Westfalen "Bevölkerung im Regierungsbezirk Düsseldorf"
  2. ^ "Partnership towns of the City of Košice" (in Slovak). © 2007-2009 City of Košice Magistrát mesta Košice, Tr. SNP 48/A, 040 11 Košice. http://www.kosice.sk/clanok.asp?file=gov_s_c-00.html. Retrieved 2009-07-12. 

 
 

 

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/ Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Wuppertal" Read more