Leverkusen () is a city 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 ...

, Germany, on the eastern bank of the

Rhine ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , source ...

. To the south, Leverkusen borders the city of

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

, and to the north the 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 ...

. With about 161,000 inhabitants, Leverkusen is one of the state's smaller cities. The city is known for the pharmaceutical company

Bayer Bayer AG (, commonly pronounced ; ) is a German multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Headquartered in Leverkusen, Bayer's areas of business include pharmaceutic ...

and its sports club

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, ...

History

The heart of what is now Leverkusen was Wiesdorf, a village on the

, which dates back to the 12th century. With the surrounding villages which have now been incorporated, the area also includes the rivers

Wupper The Wupper is a right tributary of the Rhine in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Rising near Marienheide in western Sauerland it runs through the mountainous region of the Bergisches Land in Berg County and enters the Rhine at ...

and

Dhünn Dhünn is a -long river located in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Its main source is near Wipperfürth in the Bergisches Land area. It runs in a south-westerly direction, and its mouth into the river Wupper is near Leverkusen, appr. north of ...

, and has suffered a lot from flooding, notably in 1571 and 1657, the latter resulting in Wiesdorf being moved East from the river to its present location. During the

Cologne War The Cologne War (german: Kölner Krieg, Kölnischer Krieg, Truchsessischer Krieg; 1583–88) was a conflict between Protestant and Catholic factions that devastated the Electorate of Cologne, a historical ecclesiastical principality of the Holy ...

, from 1583 to 1588 Leverkusen was ravaged by war. The entire area was rural until the late 19th century, when industry prompted the development that led to the city of Leverkusen, and to its becoming one of the most important centres of the German chemical industry. The chemist Carl Leverkus, looking for a place to build a

dye A dye is a colored substance that chemically bonds to the substrate to which it is being applied. This distinguishes dyes from pigments which do not chemically bind to the material they color. Dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution and ...

factory, chose Wiesdorf in 1860. He built a factory for the production of artificial ultramarine blue at the Kahlberg in Wiesdorf in 1861, and called the emerging settlement "Leverkusen" after his family home in Lennep. The factory was taken over by the

company in 1891; Bayer moved its headquarters to Wiesdorf in 1912. After asset confiscation at the end of the First World War, it became

IG Farben Interessengemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG (), commonly known as IG Farben (German for 'IG Dyestuffs'), was a German chemical and pharmaceutical conglomerate. Formed in 1925 from a merger of six chemical companies— BASF, Bayer, Hoechst, Agf ...

. The city of Leverkusen proper was founded in 1930 by merging Wiesdorf, Schlebusch, Steinbüchel and Rheindorf, and was posthumously named for Carl Leverkus. During the Second World War, the IG Farben factories were bombed by the RAF on 22 August 1943, again by the RAF during bombing campaigns on 19/20 November, the USAAF

Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Forc ...

on 1 December 1943, and finally once again by the RAF on 10/11 December 1943. In 1975, Opladen (including Quettingen and Lützenkirchen since 1930), Hitdorf and Bergisch Neukirchen joined Leverkusen. The present city is made up of former villages, originally called Wiesdorf, Opladen, Schlebusch, Manfort, Bürrig, Hitdorf, Quettingen, Lützenkirchen, Steinbüchel, Rheindorf and Bergisch-Neukirchen. On 27 July 2021, an explosion at the Chempark site in the city killed 2 people and injured 31 others.

Demographics

Population development since 1832:

Politics

Mayor

The current Mayor of Leverkusen is Uwe Richrath 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 For ...

(SPD), elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2020. The most recent mayoral election was held on 13 September 2020, with a runoff held on 27 September, and the results were as follows: ! rowspan=2 colspan=2, Candidate ! rowspan=2, Party ! colspan=2, First round ! colspan=2, Second round , - ! Votes ! % ! Votes ! % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Uwe Richrath , align=left,

, 28,016 , 46.1 , 29,438 , 70.0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Frank Schönberger , align=left, Christian Democratic Union , 14,198 , 23.4 , 12,619 , 30.0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Stefan Baake , align=left,

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (for ...

, 7,283 , 12.0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Roland Hartwig , align=left,

Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (german: link=no, Alternative für Deutschland, AfD; ) is a right-wing populist * * * * * * * political party in Germany. AfD is known for its opposition to the European Union, as well as immigration to Germany. ...

, 3,132 , 5.2 , - , , align=left, Karl Schweiger , align=left, Citizens' List Leverkusen , 3,070 , 5.1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Monika Ballin-Meyer-Ahrens , align=left, Free Democratic Party , 2,613 , 4.3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Christian Alexander Langer , align=left, Die PARTEI , 1,377 , 2.3 , - , , align=left, Markus Beisicht , align=left, Awakening Leverkusen , 1,101 , 1.8 , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 60,790 ! 98.8 ! 42,057 ! 99.1 , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 744 ! 1.2 ! 362 ! 0.9 , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 61,534 ! 100.0 ! 42,419 ! 100.0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 126,846 ! 48.5 ! 126,801 ! 33.5 , - , colspan=7, Source
State Returning Officer

City council

The Leverkusen 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, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , 16,859 , 27.8 , 4.7 , 14 , 3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(SPD) , 15,276 , 25.2 , 3.1 , 13 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(Grüne) , 11,015 , 18.2 , 8.8 , 9 , 4 , - , , align=left, Citizens' List Leverkusen (Bürgerliste) , 3,630 , 6.0 , 1.0 , 3 , 1 , - , , align=left, Opladen Plus (OP) , 3,601 , 5.9 , 0.7 , 3 , ±0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(AfD) , 3,466 , 5.7 , New , 3 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Democratic Party (FDP) , 2,937 , 4.8 , 1.0 , 3 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, The Left (Die Linke) , 2,092 , 3.4 , 0.4 , 2 , ±0 , - , , align=left, Citizens' Forum Green Leverkusen – Climate List (Büfo) , 909 , 1.5 , New , 1 , New , - , , align=left, Awakening Leverkusen (AUF) , 876 , 1.4 , New , 1 , New , - ! colspan=2, Valid votes ! 60,661 ! 98.6 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Invalid votes ! 866 ! 1.4 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Total ! 61,527 ! 100.0 ! ! 52 ! ±0 , - ! colspan=2, Electorate/voter turnout ! 126,846 ! 48.5 ! 2.3 ! ! , - , colspan=7, Source
State Returning Officer

Coat of arms

The coat of arms consists of the two-tailed rampant red lion of the Bergisches Land with a blue crown on a silver background and an embattled line in front.

Main sights and places of interest

* BayArena is the home stadium of Bayer Leverkusen, with a capacity of over 30,000. * The Bayer Cross Leverkusen is one of the largest illuminated advertisements in the world. * Freudenthaler Sensenhammer is an industrial museum. * Schloss Morsbroich – moated castle in the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

style, now a museum for contemporary art. * Water Tower Leverkusen-Bürrig – water reservoir containing an observation deck. * Neuland Park – large park beside the

. *

Japanese Garden are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden des ...

– a 1913 garden extended by Carl Duisberg in 1923. * Colony of workers – historical area in the form of houses and other buildings constructed for employees and families of the chemical works at the end of the 19th and beginning of 20th century. * ''Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit'' – historical boat bridge next to the Rhine, between Wiesdorf and Rheindorf. *

Mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be cons ...

of Carl Duisberg – mausoleum in the centre of the Carl Duisberg Park, next to the Casino. * NaturGut Ophoven – educational centre for nature in Leverkusen-Opladen.

Sports

The city is home of the football team

and the basketball team Bayer Giants Leverkusen, which is the German record holder of national basketball championships. As of 2019, the team plays in the German ProA league and plays its home games in the

Ostermann-Arena Ostermann-Arena (formerly Wilhelm Dopatka Halle and Smidt-Arena) is an indoor sporting arena located in Leverkusen, Germany. The capacity of the arena is 3,500 people. It is home to the Bayer Giants Leverkusen basketball team. As Wilhelm Dopat ...

. The Ostermann-Arena, previously known as Wilhelm Dopatka Halle and Smidt-Arena, was one of the host arenas for the FIBA EuroBasket 1985 (the official European Basketball Championship).

Twin towns – sister cities

Leverkusen is twinned with: *

Oulu Oulu ( , ; sv, Uleåborg ) is a city, municipality and a seaside resort of about 210,000 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country after ...

, Finland (1968) *

Bracknell Bracknell () is a large town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, the westernmost area within the Greater London Urban Area and the administrative centre of the Borough of Bracknell Forest. It lies to the east of Reading, south of Maiden ...

, United Kingdom (1975) *

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

, Slovenia (1979) * Nof HaGalil, Israel (1980) *

Chinandega Chinandega () is a city and the departmental seat of Chinandega department in Nicaragua. It is also the administrative centre of the surrounding municipality of the same name. It is Nicaragua's 2nd most important city (economy) and 6th largest ci ...

, Nicaragua (1986) * Schwedt, Germany (1989) * Racibórz, Poland (2002) * Villeneuve d'Ascq, France (2005) *

Wuxi Wuxi (, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu province, eastern China, by car to the northwest of downtown Shanghai, between Changzhou and Suzhou. In 2017 it had a population of 3,542,319, with 6,553,000 living in the entire prefecture-level city a ...

, China (2014)

Notable people

Lothar Rohde Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co KG (, ) is an international electronics group specializing in the fields of electronic test equipment, broadcast & media, cybersecurity, radiomonitoring and radiolocation, and radiocommunication. The company provides ...

(1906–1985), scientist and founder of ''Rohde & Schwarz Messtechnik'' * Heinrich Lützenkirchen (1909–1986), mayor of Leverkusen *

Paul Janes Paul Janes (11 March 1912 – 12 June 1987) was a German football player. He earned 71 caps and scored seven goals for the Germany national team from 1932 to 1942, and played in two World Cups: 1934 and 1938. Janes was a member of the Breslau E ...

(1912–1987), footballer *

Wolf Vostell Wolf Vostell (14 October 1932 – 3 April 1998) was a German painter and sculptor, considered one of the early adopters of video art and installation art and pioneer of Happenings and Fluxus. Techniques such as blurring and Dé-coll/age are ...

(1932–1988), sculptor, painter and happening artist *

Ileana Jacket Ileana Jacket (also Ileana Jacquet; born 30 January 1947) is a German-born Venezuelan actress. She made her debut in 1982 in the telenovela ''Jugando A Vivir'' playing Briggitte and has since participated in several telenovelas throughout Latin A ...

(born 1947),

telenovela A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") and ''novela'' (meaning "novel"). Similar drama genres around the world include '' teleserye'' ...

actress * Bärbel Dieckmann (born 1949), politician ( SPD), mayor of

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

1994–2009 * Wilfried Schmickler (born 1954), comedian * Andreas Hedwig (born 1959), archivist * Dietmar Mögenburg (born 1961), athlete *

Detlef Schrempf Detlef Schrempf (born January 21, 1963) is a German-American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Washington Huskies from 1981 to 1985, and was drafted into the National Basketball Association (NBA) by the ...

(born 1963), basketball player * Sabine Moussier (born 1966), Mexican telenovela actress * Uta Briesewitz (born 1967), cinematographer *

Ralf Schmitz Ralf Schmitz (born 3 November 1974 in Leverkusen) is a German comedian and actor. Life Schmitz works as an actor in German television. Filmography * since 2003: Genial daneben – Die Comedy Arena * 2004–2006: Schillerstraße * 2002� ...

(born 1974), actor and comedian * Jörg Bergmeister (born 1976), racing driver *

Ji-In Cho Ji-In Cho (born 30 December 1976) is a German heavy metal singer of Korean descent. She has been the lead vocalist of the symphonic metal band Krypteria since December 2004 until their hiatus after her pregnancy. Following this, she became the ...

(born 1976), heavy metal singer * Danny Ecker (born 1977), pole vaulter * Felix Sturm (born 1979), middleweight boxer * Thomas Fleßenkämper (born 1981), classical composer and pianist

References

Sources

* Blaschke, Stefan (1999): ''Unternehmen und Gemeinde: Das Bayerwerk im Raum Leverkusen 1891-1914'' Cologne: SH-Verlag, (German) * Archive of Leverkusen (2005): ''Leverkusen. Geschichte einer Stadt am Rhein.'' Bielefeld: Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, (German) * Franz Gruß (1987): ''Geschichte und Porträt der Stadt Leverkusen.'' Leverkusen: Verlag Anna Gruß, (German)

External links

*
City of Leverkusen
{{Authority control Populated places on the Rhine 1930 establishments in Germany Populated places established in 1930