Kerpen (; Ripuarian: ''Kerpe'') is the most populated town in the Rhein-Erft-Kreis (

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 ...

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 ...

). It is located about 20 kilometres southwest from

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

Division of the town

The town of Kerpen was created in 1975, when the previously independent municipalities Balkhausen, Blatzheim, Brüggen, Buir, Horrem, Kerpen, Manheim, Mödrath, Sindorf and Türnich were merged.

Monuments

* Burg Bergerhausen * Burg Loersfeld *

Schloss Türnich Schloss Türnich is a schloss located in , now part of Kerpen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The present main building was built from 1757 to 1766 in Baroque style, with an adjacent English landscape park. It has belonged to the Hoensbroech f ...

Notable people

Adolph Kolping Adolph Kolping (8 December 1813 — 4 December 1865) was a German Catholic priest and the founder of the Kolping Association. He led the movement for providing and promoting social support for workers in industrialized cities while also working ...

(1813–1865), Catholic priest and social reformer *

Wolfgang von Trips Wolfgang Alexander Albert Eduard Maximilian Reichsgraf Berghe von Trips (; 4 May 1928 – 10 September 1961), also known simply as Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips and nicknamed 'Taffy' by friends and fellow racers, was a German racing driver. He ...

(1928–1961),

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

motor racing driver *

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

(1928–2007), pioneer of electronic music composition *

Franz-Peter Hofmeister Franz-Peter Hofmeister (born 5 August 1951) was a West German athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres. He competed for West Germany in the 1976 Summer Olympics held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in the 4 x 400 metre relay where he won the br ...

, Olympic medalist in the 4 × 400 m relay *

Michael Schumacher Michael Schumacher (; ; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver who competed in Formula One for Jordan, Benetton, Ferrari, and Mercedes. Schumacher has a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Lewis ...

, 7 time Formula One world champion *

Ralf Schumacher Ralf Schumacher (born 30 June 1975) is a German former racing driver. He is the younger brother of seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher, and the pair are the only siblings to each win Formula One races. Schumacher began kart ...

, brother of Michael, both have emulated von Trips in achieving success in Formula One *

Patrice Bart-Williams Patrice Babatunde Bart-Williams (born 9 July 1979), better known as Patrice, is a Sierra Leonean-German singer-songwriter, music producer and film-maker. Raised by a Sierra Leonean father and a German mother, Patrice Bart-Williams grew up listenin ...

is an acclaimed reggae artist

Education

In 2008,

Gymnasium der Stadt Kerpen The (German, ''High school of the City of Kerpen'') is a in Kerpen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The school was founded in 1968. In 2001, it was certified as a "Europaschule" (de) () by the Ministry of Schools of North Rhine-Westphalia. ...

was considered the largest school in Germany.

Twin towns – sister cities

Kerpen is twinned with: * St. Vith, Belgium (1975) *

Oświęcim Oświęcim (; german: Auschwitz ; yi, אָשפּיצין, Oshpitzin) is a city in the Lesser Poland ( pl, Małopolska) province of southern Poland, situated southeast of Katowice, near the confluence of the Vistula (''Wisła'') and Soła rive ...

, Poland (1997)

References

External links

* Towns in North Rhine-Westphalia Rhein-Erft-Kreis {{RheinErftKreis-geo-stub