Dortmund is a city in Germany, located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Dortmund City has a population of 587,830 (in 2005) of inhabitants.
About Dortmund:
The Ruhr river flows south of the city, and the small river Emscher flows through the municipal area. The Dortmund-Ems Canal also terminates in the Dortmund Port, which is the largest German canal port, and links Dortmund to the North Sea.
Dortmund is known as Westphalia's "green metropolis". Nearly half the municipal territory consists of waterways, woodland, agriculture and green spaces with spacious parks such as Westfalenpark and the Rombergpark. Historically seen, after nearly a hundred years of extensive coal mining, coking, and steel milling within the city limits, this is quite a con
trast.
The Christmas market (Weihnachtsmarkt) is one of the largest in Germany, and is host to the largest "christmas tree" in the world, formed by stacking hundreds of trees into the shape of a pyramid.
History:
The history of Dortmund goes back as far as 880 AD, when the city was first mentioned in official documents as Throtmanni. It was a small village at that time. In 1152 the emperor Barbarossa came to the region and rebuilt the town, which had been destroyed in a fire shortly before. For two years Dortmund was the residence of Barbarossa — a short time, but afterwards it grew to become one of the most powerful towns of the empire. In the 13th century Dortmund joined the Hanseatic League. In 1220, it attained the status of an Imperial Free City, i.e. it was directly subordinated to the emperor. After 1320, the wealthy trading city started to appear in writing as "Dorpmunde". The etymology of the name is uncertain.
Dortmund lost its status as an Imperial Free City in 1803. It was incorporated into Prussia after the Napoleonic Wars and became a major center for coal, steel, and beer.
During the rule of the Third Reich, Dortmund was home to the Aplerbeck Hospital that "took care" of mentally and/or physically disabled persons (that is they were murdered in an euthanasia programme). Located in the heart of the Ruhr Area (Ruhrgebiet), Dortmund, along with neighbouring cities, was a target of allied bombing raids. During World War II about two-thirds of homes in Dortmund were destroyed.
Today the city is a center for hi-tech industry. It is also one of the greenest cities in Westphalia, with extensive parks and gardens laid out in the reconstruction period after the World War II. Additionally, the Dortmund chess tournament, one of the strongest in the world, is held there annually.
Culture:
Culture in Dortmund means music, theatre and musicals, art, architecture and local customs. Dortmund's concert house hosts musical events of the highest international calibre.
Concert Hall
The Philharmonic for Westphalia is not only architecturally eye-catching, but is also extremely well designed with superb acoustics and a light and stylish atmosphere.
Theatre
Classical and modern operas, ballet, operettas and musicals – Dortmund's opera house has a fantastic programme, both in terms of range and quality. Many people are also very fond of the architecture of this unusual 1960s building. The theatre next door has premieres and other high-quality drama to delight the most discerning of audiences.
Museums :
The Ostwall Art Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Museum of Art and Cultural History are some of the most visited museums in Dortmund, along with the permanent exhibitions at the Zollern II/IV coal mine and DASA.
Ostwall Art Museum
The Ostwall Museum has paintings, sculptures, installations, photographs and over 2,500 graphic works. Its specialisms are 20th/21st-century media art and "transfer exhibitions". Its collection of 35 early and late works by Alexei von Jawlensky is one of Germany's most notable collections of this artist's work.
Natural History Museum
Explore millions of years of the earth's history and come face to face with dinosaurs, a 55-million-year-old prehistoric baby horse, dazzling rock crystals, 150,000 insects, thousands of examples of pressed plants and - in a huge Amazonian aquarium - tropical freshwater fish in a riot of exotic colours. There is also a visitor mine which shows the history of ore and mineral mining in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Museum of Art and Cultural History
This is the oldest museum of its kind in the Ruhr area and has been collecting a diverse array of exquisite, rare, representative and everyday objects since 1883. Together with the Dortmund Treasure (a collection of gold coins), the Madonnas by Dortmund's Master Conrad von Soest and the rare Renaissance collection, the museum also traces the city's history from the Middle Ages to the present day. Its art collection includes works by well-known painters such as Caspar David Friedrich, Carl Spitzweg and Max Lieberman. There is also a comprehensive exhibition on the history of surveying technology.
Airport:
Dortmund Airport is a medium-sized, but quickly growing airport 13 km east of the city centre at the city limit to Holzwickede.
The central train station (Hauptbahnhof) is the third largest long distance traffic junction in Germany.
Dortmund Harbour (Hafen) is the largest canal harbour in Europe; almost as large as the one in Duisburg, the world's largest inland port.
Dortmund also serves as a major European and German crossroads for the Autobahnsystem. The Ruhrschnellweg follows old Hanseatic trade routes to connect the city with the other metropolises of the Ruhr Area. Connections to the more distant parts of Germany are maintained by the A1 and the A2 which pass closely to the north and east of the city and cross each other at the Kamener Kreuz interchange northeast of Dortmund. For public transportation, the city has an extensive Stadtbahn, streetcar and bus system. An additional light rail line is currently under construction in the city centre.
The H-Bahn at Dortmund University is a a unique hanging monorail built specifically to shuttle passengers across the university's campus, which is now also flanked by research laboratories and other high-tech corporations.
Sister Cities :
- Amiens, France, (1960)
- Leeds, United Kingdom, (1969)
- Rostov-on-Don, Russia, (1978)
- Buffalo (New York), United States, (1977)
- Netanya, Israel, (1981)
- Novi Sad, Serbia, (1982)
- Xi'an, People's Republic of China, (1992)
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Dortmund is a city in Germany, located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Dortmund City has a population of 587,830 (in 2005) of inhabitants.