Bottrop, die Martinskirche Dm45 IMG 8481 2018-09-01 14

Bottrop, Bergwerk Prosper-Haniel Dm27 IMG 8479 2018-09-01 14

Bottrop () is a city in west-central

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, on the

Rhine–Herne Canal The Rhine–Herne Canal (german: Rhein-Herne-Kanal) is a transportation canal in the Ruhr area of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with five canal locks. The canal was built over a period of eight years (5 April 1906 – 14 July 1914) and c ...

, in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

. Located in the Ruhr industrial area, Bottrop adjoins Essen, Oberhausen,

Gladbeck Gladbeck () is a town in the district of Recklinghausen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Gladbeck is quite a young town, first recognised 21 July 1919 when it was given town rights. The town established itself around five farming villages, Br ...

, and

Dorsten Dorsten (; Westphalian: ''Dössen'') is a town in the district of Recklinghausen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and has a population of about 75,000. Dorsten is situated on the western rim of Westphalia bordering the Rhineland. Its histor ...

. The city had been a coal-mining and rail center and contains factories producing coal-tar derivatives, chemicals, textiles, and machinery. Bottrop grew as a mining center beginning in the 1860s, was chartered as a city in 1921, and bombed during the Oil Campaign of World War II. In 1975, it unified with the neighbouring communities of Gladbeck and Kirchhellen, but Gladbeck left it in 1976, leading to Kirchhellen becoming a district of Bottrop as Bottrop-Kirchhellen. It is also twinned with Blackpool,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Boroughs

The total area of the municipal territory is about . The longest north-south distance is , and from west to east . The highest peak within the city's territory is , the lowest one being above sea level. Bottrop is divided into three boroughs: Bottrop-Mitte (Bottrop-Center), Bottrop-Süd (Bottrop South) and

Bottrop-Kirchhellen Bottrop () is a city in west-central Germany, on the Rhine–Herne Canal, in North Rhine-Westphalia. Located in the Ruhr industrial area, Bottrop adjoins Essen, Oberhausen, Gladbeck, and Dorsten. The city had been a coal-mining and rail cent ...

, each having a borough representation and a borough ruler. These boroughs are further subdivided into city parts, partly named after their traditional names, while the newly built parts are only recently named: *Bottrop-Mitte: Eigen, Fuhlenbrock, Stadtmitte, and Marktviertel *Bottrop-Süd: Batenbrock, Boy, Ebel, Lehmkuhle, Vonderort, Gartenstadt Welheim (Garden city Welheim), and Welheimer Mark *Bottrop-Kirchhellen: Ekel, Feldhausen, Grafenwald, Hardinghausen, Holthausen, Im Loh, Kirchhellen, Kuhberg, and Overhagen For statistical reasons, Bottrop is also divided into ''statistical'' boroughs. They are (with their official numbering):

Kirchhellen

From 1919 until 1976, Kirchhellen was its own town. Following a communal reorganization reform in 1975, both Kirchhellen and Gladbeck joined the city of Bottrop. This resulted in the nickname "GlaBotKi". Gladbeck left the city in 1976, and became part of the district of Recklinghausen. Most of Kirchhellen is Catholic (around 65%). It has three churches, including one Lutheran church.

Politics

Mayor

The current Mayor of Bottrop is Bernd Tischler of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

(SPD) since 2009. The most recent mayoral election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows: ! colspan=2, Candidate ! Party ! Votes ! % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Bernd Tischler , align=left,

, 31,795 , 73.1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Andrea Swoboda , align=left, Alliance 90/The Greens , 4,117 , 9.5 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Andreas Bucksteeg , align=left, Free Democratic Party , 3,023 , 7.0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Michael Gerber , align=left,

German Communist Party The German Communist Party (german: Deutsche Kommunistische Partei, ) is a communist party in Germany. The DKP supports left positions and was an observer member of the European Left. At the end of February 2016 it left the European party. His ...

, 2,071 , 4.8 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Marianne Dominas , align=left,

Ecological Democratic Party The Ecological Democratic Party (german: Ökologisch-Demokratische Partei, ÖDP) is a conservative and ecologist minor party in Germany. The ÖDP was founded in 1982. The strongest level of voting support for the ÖDP is in Bavaria, where in ...

, 1,334 , 3.1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Günter Blocks , align=left, The Left , 1,153 , 2.7 , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 43,493 ! 97.5 , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 1,114 ! 2.5 , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 44,607 ! 100.0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 92,241 ! 48.4 , - , colspan=5, Source
State Returning Officer

City council

The Bottrop city council governs the city alongside the Mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows: ! colspan=2, Party ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(SPD) , 17,668 , 40.2 , 7.4 , 24 , 2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , 10,513 , 23.9 , 3.2 , 14 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne) , 5,639 , 12.8 , 7.4 , 8 , 5 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Alternative for Germany (AfD) , 3,076 , 7.0 , 5.2 , 4 , 3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(ÖDP) , 1,856 , 4.2 , 0.4 , 2 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(DKP) , 1,832 , 4.2 , 0.2 , 2 , ±0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Democratic Party (FDP) , 1,821 , 4.1 , 1.5 , 2 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, The Left (Die Linke) , 1,507 , 3.4 , 0.7 , 2 , ±0 , - ! colspan=2, Valid votes ! 43,912 ! 98.5 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Invalid votes ! 672 ! 1.5 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Total ! 44,584 ! 100.0 ! ! 58 ! 4 , - ! colspan=2, Electorate/voter turnout ! 92,241 ! 48.3 ! 0.2 ! ! , - , colspan=7, Source
State Returning Officer

Culture and attractions

Theaters, museums, and buildings

* Main Post Office, constructed 1921-1923 * The

Quadrat A quadrat is a frame, traditionally square, used in ecology, geography and biology to isolate a standard unit of area for study of the distribution of an item over a large area. Modern quadrats can for example be rectangular, circular, or irregul ...

is a museum housing permanent exhibitis on local history and displaying works by

Josef Albers Josef Albers (; ; March 19, 1888March 25, 1976) was a German-born artist and educator. The first living artist to be given a solo show at MoMA and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, he taught at the Bauhaus and Black Mountain College ...

and many temporary exhibitions. * City Hall (Neo-Renaissance 1910–1916) is regarded as the emblem of the city. * Schloss Beck theme park and castle (late baroque period 1766–1777) * Villa Dickmann, constructed 1901–1903 (art nouveau) * Alte Apotheke (Old Pharmacy, Wilhelminian style 1895) * Catholic churches ** Heilige Familie ** Heilig Kreuz, built 1955–57, windows by Georg Meistermann ** Herz Jesu, built 1929 ** Liebfrauen ** St. Antonius ** St. Barbara ** St. Bonifatius ** St. Cyriakus, Propstei, built 1861/62 by Emil von Manger ** St. Elisabeth, built 1954 ** St. Franziskus ** St. Johannes Baptist (BOT-Boy) ** St. Johannes der Täufer (BOT-Kirchhellen) ** St. Joseph ** St. Ludger ** St. Mariä Himmelfahrt ** St. Matthias ** St. Michael ** St. Paul ** St. Peter ** St. Pius ** St. Suitbert, built 1955 * Protestant churches ** Auferstehungskirche ** Friedenskirche ** Gnadenkirche ** Martin-Niemöller-Kirche ** Martinskirche, erbaut 1884 ** Paul-Gerhardt-Kirche ** Pauluskirche * Malakow-Turm (1872) of the coal mine Prosper II * Coal Mining Tip Haniel with an open-air theater ( Amphitheater) and the Kreuzweg designed by Tisa von der Schulenburg and Adolf Radecki and opened in 1995. * Saalbau, convention center

Attractions

* Alpincenter - the world's longest

indoor ski slope Indoor skiing is done in a climate-controlled environment with artificially produced snow. This enables skiing and snowboarding to take place regardless of outdoor temperatures. Facilities for both alpine skiing and nordic skiing are availabl ...

* Tetraeder is a 50-m-tall walkable steel

tetrahedron In geometry, a tetrahedron (plural: tetrahedra or tetrahedrons), also known as a triangular pyramid, is a polyhedron composed of four triangular faces, six straight edges, and four vertex corners. The tetrahedron is the simplest of all th ...

, placed on a 90-m

slag heap A spoil tip (also called a boney pile, culm bank, gob pile, waste tip or bing) is a pile built of accumulated ''spoil'' – waste material removed during mining. These waste materials are typically composed of shale, as well as smaller quan ...

. It has been the town's landmark since its construction in 1995. *

Movie Park Germany Movie Park Germany is a theme park in Bottrop-Kirchhellen in western Germany, north of Düsseldorf, with an area of . It consists of 7 areas based on movies and TV series. Nearby the park are several film studios. History The park originally ...

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

(in Bottrop-Kirchhellen) * Schloss Beck is a castle turned into an amusement park (in Bottrop-Kirchhellen). * Indoor Skydiving Bottrop, a powerful

vertical wind tunnel A vertical wind tunnel (VWT) is a wind tunnel that moves air up in a vertical column. Unlike standard wind tunnels, which have test sections that are oriented horizontally, as experienced in level flight, a vertical orientation enables gravi ...

, attracts skydivers from all over Europe. * Since September 12, 2005, so called '' Stolpersteine'' have been placed by artist

Gunter Demnig Gunter Demnig (born 27 October 1947 in Berlin) is a German artist. He is best known for his ''Stolperstein'' ("stumbling block") memorials to the victims of Nazi persecution, including Jews, homosexuals, Romani and the disabled. The project plac ...

all over the city in remembrance of the people deported and killed by the Nazis.

Periodic events

*January: Festival Orgel PLUS (music festival started in 1989) *February: Rose Monday Parade and Carnival *May: Horse Market *May:

Asparagus Asparagus, or garden asparagus, folk name sparrow grass, scientific name ''Asparagus officinalis'', is a perennial flowering plant species in the genus '' Asparagus''. Its young shoots are used as a spring vegetable. It was once classified in ...

- Farmers' Market in

Kirchhellen Bottrop () is a city in west-central Germany, on the Rhine–Herne Canal, in North Rhine-Westphalia. Located in the Ruhr industrial area, Bottrop adjoins Essen, Oberhausen, Gladbeck, and Dorsten. The city had been a coal-mining and rail cent ...

*Brezelfest (Pretzel Festival) in Kirchhellen *May/June/July: Schützenfeste (marksmen festivals) of Bottrops marksmen companies (BSV Bottrop Batenbrock, BSV Bottrop Eigen, BSV Bottrop Fuhlenbrock, BSV Bottrop Vonderort, BSV Andreas Hofer, Alte Allgemeine Bürgerschützengesellschaft, BSV Bottrop Boy) *September: Michaelismarket

Religion

* Catholic: 50% (19 churches) * Protestant (Lutheran): 20% (8 churches) * Atheist/agnostic: 20% * Muslim: 2%

Notable people

(1888–1976), painter, graphic artist, designer, art teacher *

August Everding August Everding (; 31 October 1928; Bottrop, Germany – 26 January 1999; Munich) was a German opera director and administrator. He studied at the Universities of Bonn and Munich, where launching his career in the 1950s. He was a member of the R ...

(1928–1999), director of the

Hamburgische Staatsoper The Hamburg State Opera (in German: Staatsoper Hamburg) is a German opera company based in Hamburg. Its theatre is near the square of Gänsemarkt. Since 2015, the current ''Intendant'' of the company is Georges Delnon, and the current ''Genera ...

1973–77, general director of the Bavarian State Theater rector *

Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser (born 25 June 1965) is a German archaeologist. She is a professor at the Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz and Director of the Monrepos Archaeological Research Centre and Museum for human behavioural Evolution of th ...

(born 1965), archaeologist *

Paul Holz Paul Holz (27 September 1952 – 11 December 2017) was a German football midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that ...

(1952–2017), football player *

Martin Honert Martin Honert (born 1953) is a German artist based in Düsseldorf. He is known for making veristic sculptures of memories or images related to his childhood. Work Honert was born in Bottrop, West Germany and attended the Staatliche Kunstakademie ...

(born 1953), artist, professor at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts * Da Hool (born 1968), DJ and music producer *

Theo Jörgensmann Theodor Franz Jörgensmann (born 29 September 1948) is a German jazz clarinetist. Activities Theo Jörgensmann belongs to the second generation of European free jazz musicians. He was part of the clarinet renaissance in the jazz and improvisi ...

(born 1948), jazz musician and composer * Gisela Kinzel (born 1961), athlete and Olympian *

Ulla Kock am Brink Ursula Eva Maria Kock am Brink (born 10 July 1961 in Mülheim an der Ruhr) is a German television presenter. Life From 1981 to 1984, Kock am Brink studied German studies, Spanish language, Spanish studies and Social sciences at university in Bo ...

(born 1961), television presenter * Bernhard Korte (born 1938), mathematician and computer scientist * Werner Münch (born 1940), politician (CDU), prime kinister of Saxony-Anhalt (1991–1993) * Christian Scheuß (born 1966), journalist and writer *

Claus Spahn Claus Spahn (born 15 May 1940 in Bottrop, Germany) is a former TV programme editor of Germany's Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) broadcasting corporation, a presenter, producer and author. He was awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federa ...

(born 1940), journalist and author * Andy Vine (1948–1985), author and poet

Twin towns – sister cities

Bottrop is twinned with: * Blackpool, England, United Kingdom (1980) *

Gliwice Gliwice (; german: Gleiwitz) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. The city is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Kłodnica river (a tributary of the Oder). It lies approximately 25 km west from Katowice, the regional capi ...

, Poland (2007) *

Merseburg Merseburg () is a town in central Germany in southern Saxony-Anhalt, situated on the river Saale, and approximately 14 km south of Halle (Saale) and 30 km west of Leipzig. It is the capital of the Saalekreis district. It had a dioces ...

, Germany (1989) *

Mitte (Berlin) Mitte () is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding. It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kre ...

, Germany (1983) *

Tourcoing Tourcoing (; nl, Toerkonje ; vls, Terkoeje; pcd, Tourco) is a city in northern France on the Belgian border. It is designated municipally as a commune within the department of Nord. Located to the north-northeast of Lille, adjacent to Roubai ...

, France (1967) *

Veszprém Veszprém (; german: Weißbrunn, sl, Belomost) is one of the oldest urban areas in Hungary, and a city with county rights. It lies approximately north of the Lake Balaton. It is the administrative center of the county (comitatus or 'megye') of ...

, Hungary (1987)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Cities in North Rhine-Westphalia