Unterbilk is an urban quarter in Borough 3 of the

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

state capital

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

. It is the seat of the

Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia The Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia is the state parliament (''Landtag'') of the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which convenes in the state capital of Düsseldorf, in the eastern part of the district of Hafen. The parliament i ...

, the

Rheinturm The Rheinturm (; 'Rhine Tower') is a concrete telecommunications tower in Düsseldorf, capital of the federal state (''Bundesland'') of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Construction commenced in 1979 and finished in 1981. The Rheinturm carries a ...

tower and, together with the Düsseldorf docks is the centre of the media industry in Düsseldorf.

Geography

Unterbilk has an area of , and 19,335 inhabitants (2020). It borders the urban boroughs of Hafen (docks), Bilk and

Friedrichstadt Friedrichstadt (; da, Frederiksstad) is a town in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the river Eider approx. 12 km south of Husum. History The town was founded in 1621 by Dutch settlers. Du ...

within Borough 3 and Carlstadt in Borough 1, the very centre of the city.

History

Unterbilk was originally a part of Bilk, and was first mentioned in documents in 799 AD. Düsseldorf was within the parish of Old St. Martin in Bilk until 1206. In 1384 Bilk was incorporated into Düsseldorf. Unterbilk became a municipal district in its own right when the railway line from

Neuss Neuss (; spelled ''Neuß'' until 1968; li, Nüss ; la, Novaesium) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the west bank of the Rhine opposite Düsseldorf. Neuss is the largest city within the Rhein-Kreis Neuss district. It ...

to Düsseldorf was constructed. The part of Bilk south of the line retained the name Bilk and that north of the tracks became Unterbilk. The

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

led to the rapid urbanization of Unterbilk in the 19th century. In 1876 the first horse racing track in Düsseldorf opened within Unterbilk, located on the Lausward meadows beside the Rhine. In 1890 construction began on Düsseldorf's docks, spreading over much of the Lausward meadow area and opening in 1896. The docks area later became a separate municipal district of Düsseldorf.

Economy

The administration of the state of

is an important local employer as is the engineering company

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

. Since the 1980s the

service sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the second ...

has grown, especially after the transformation of much of the nearby docks area into the ''Medienhafen'' broadcast media, corporate office and entertainment district from the 1990s onwards.

Buildings and monuments

In the

Napoleonic Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

era the border between Unterbilk and its neighbouring district of Frederichstadt was delineated by Düsseldorf's

fortifications A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

. Following the

Treaty of Lunéville The Treaty of Lunéville (or Peace of Lunéville) was signed in the Treaty House of Lunéville on 9 February 1801. The signatory parties were the French Republic and Emperor Francis II, who signed on his own behalf as ruler of the hereditary doma ...

in 1801 the fortifications were demolished and the area became public gardens with two linked ornamental ponds, the Schwanenspiegel and Kaiserteich. Overlooking the gardens is the Renaissance-style ''Ständehaus'' building that was completed in 1880 and housed the regional parliament until 1988, despite being gutted by fire due to a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

bombing raid in 1943 that left just its outer shell until reconstruction was completed in 1949. Today it houses part of the region's art collection, the ''

Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen The Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen is the art collection of the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, in Düsseldorf. United by this institution are three different exhibition venues: the ''K20'' at Grabbeplatz, the ''K21'' in the ...

''. The regional parliament moved in 1988 from the Ständehaus to buildings near Unterbilk's border with the docks area, close to the

tower and the studios of the regional television and radio broadcaster

Westdeutscher Rundfunk Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (''West German Broadcasting Cologne''; WDR, ) is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the conso ...

. The 20 floor postmodern, parallelogram-shaped office building named the ''

Stadttor Stadttor () is a 20-storey high-rise building in the Düsseldorf-Unterbilk, Unterbilk neighborhood of Düsseldorf, Germany. The building was designed by Düsseldorf-based architecture firm Petzinka Pink und Partner and completed in 1998. It mark ...

'' (City Gate) opened in 1998 and won architectural awards. Amongst its tenants is the Chancery of the prime minister of North Rhine-Westphalia. The ''Florapark'' gardens opened in 1870 featuring a festival hall and greenhouse with palm trees and exotic animals. The buildings no longer exist. The headquarters of the Düsseldorf police are in Unterbilk in buildings constructed in the 1920s on the site of a cavalry barracks. File:Düsseldorf (DerHexer) 2010-08-13 234.jpg, The Kaiserteich pond and the ''Ständehaus'' building, seat of the regional parliament until 1988, now an art museum File:Landtag am Rhein in Düsseldorf -jha-.jpg, The current regional parliament building File:WDR Funkhaus Düsseldorf.jpg, The regional TV and radio broadcaster WDR File:Stadttor Duesseldorf 001.jpg, The

office building that houses the offices of the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia File:Polizeipraesidium in Duesseldorf-Unterbilk, von Suedosten.jpg, The Düsseldorf police headquarters File:Wiese im Florapark in Duesseldorf-Unterbilk, von Suedosten.jpg, Florapark gardens

References

External links

Düsseldorf Communal Administration: District Mayor, Distr. 3
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dusseldorf-Unterbilk Unterbilk