Bad Münstereifel () is a historical

spa town A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits. Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath in 1668. H ...

in the district of

Euskirchen Euskirchen (; Ripuarian: ''Öskerche'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the district Euskirchen. While Euskirchen resembles a modern shopping town, it also has a history dating back over 700 years, having been granted to ...

, Germany, with about 17,000 inhabitants, situated in the far southwest of the German state of

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 ...

. The little town is one of only a few historical towns in the southwest of North Rhine-Westphalia, and because of this is often overcrowded by tourists throughout spring and summer.

Geography

Location

Bad Münstereifel lies about southwest 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-Ruhr r ...

and around ten (both as the crow flies) south of the county town of

in the

Münstereifel Forest Münstereifel Forest (german: Münstereifeler Wald) is densely wooded region in the northern part of the Eifel mountains in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. In the south it borders on the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It has an area of 237 k ...

, a part of the

Eifel The Eifel (; lb, Äifel, ) is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Community of ...

mountains. The

River Erft The Erft () is a river in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It flows through the foothills of the Eifel, and joins the Lower Rhine (left tributary). Its origin is near Nettersheim, and its mouth in Neuss-Grimlinghausen south of the Josef Cardinal ...

flow through the town. It has a borough of around in area at heights of above sea level. The latter is the height of the Michelsberg, which is the highest point in the borough and rises in the northwestern part of the Ahr Hills (another region of the Eifel). The borough is around 60 percent forested, several woods are designated as so-called

ancient forest An old-growth forestalso termed primary forest, virgin forest, late seral forest, primeval forest, or first-growth forestis a forest that has attained great age without significant disturbance, and thereby exhibits unique ecological featur ...

(''Urwald''). Over of trails enable access to the low mountain uplands, which are about from the Eifel National Park.

Subdivisions

Arloff Arloff is a village in the borough of Bad Münstereifel in the district of Euskirchen in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Arloff Castle is a well preserved fortified building from the early Gothic period. Location Arloff lies in t ...

, Bergrath, Berresheim, Effelsberg, Eichen, Eicherscheid, Ellesheim, Esch, Eschweiler, Gilsdorf, Hilterscheid, Hohn, Holzem, Honerath, Houverath, Hummerzheim, Hünkhoven, Iversheim, Kalkar, Bad Münstereifel, Kirspenich, Kolvenbach, Kop Nück, Langscheid, Lanzerath, Lethert, Limbach, Lingscheiderhof, Mahlberg, Maulbach, Mutscheid, Neichen, Nitterscheid, Nöthen, Odesheim, Ohlerath, Reckerscheid, Rodert, Rupperath, Sasserath, Scheuerheck, Scheuren, Schönau, Soller, Vollmert, Wald, Willerscheid, Witscheiderhof

Education

Bad Münstereifel is the seat of SIGNO innovation society Eifel Association, Association of the greatest inventors in Germany. Signo is a project of the Federal Ministry of Economics and

Technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

. Joined the Association is a youth and children's department, may acquire in the children and young people in a club's workshop, the basic knowledge of

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

. Bad Münstereifel has four elementary

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

s in the main town as well as the subdistricts of

, Mutscheid, and Houverath. A

Hauptschule A ''Hauptschule'' (, "general school") is a secondary school in Germany, starting after four years of elementary schooling (''Grundschule''), which offers Lower Secondary Education (Level 2) according to the International Standard Classification ...

and Realschule share facilities, while the city has two Gymnasium: the public St. Michael-Gymnasium and the diocesan-run St.-Angela-Gymnasium. Furthermore, the

Apostolic school An apostolic school is a missionary college of the Roman Catholic Church which trains the secular clergy for missionary work abroad. The first apostolic school was opened at Avignon in 1865 by Father de Foresta. His desire was to give boys with an e ...

of the Legionaries of Christ has its seat in the city. Since 1976, the city is also home to the University of Applied Sciences for the Administration of Justice of North Rhine-Westphalia. There are also several private training facilities in the city, including the Kurt-Schumacher-Academy of the

Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung The Friedrich Ebert Foundation (''German: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung e.V.; Abbreviation: FES'') is a German political party foundation associated with, but independent from, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Established in 1925 as the ...

and the House of Labor Security of the Trade Association for Electrical and Precision Engineering. There is also a house of the Youth

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

as an educational facility for the National Association (North Division). Bad Münstereifel has a public library with a stock of 16,000 media.

Local council

The local council has 32 seats, the elections were held in May 2014. * CDU: 12 seats * SPD: 8 seats * FDP: 4 seats * UWV: 4 seats * Alliance 90/The Greens: 3 seats * The Left: 1 seat

Notable people and gatherings

* Heino (born 1938), the folk-singer has lived in the town. From 1996 to 2012 he operated a cafe there. * Friedrich Joseph Haass, (1780–1853), the "holy doctor of

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

", was born in Bad Münstereifel. * Wilhelm Mohr (1838-1888), German journalist *

Christopher Becker Christopher Becker (born 1 May 1980) is a German film director, screenwriter, and film producer. Biography Becker studied directing at the Internationale Filmschule Köln, where he graduated in 2005. He also held various positions in the film ...

(born 1980), German film director, screenwriter and film producer The unofficial

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

fan convention, NCON, was held in the town's St.-Angela-Gymnasium in the early years of the 21st century. The Portuguese

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

, one of the two main Portuguese parties, was founded here in 1973 with the guidance of the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

, who wanted to create a political force capable of keeping Portugal a member of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

.SONER ÇAĞAPTAY – Portuguese Lessons for Turkey’s Role in the Arab Spring
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Other personalities associated with the town

* Otto Graf Lambsdorff (1926–2009), politician, former Bundesminister für Wirtschaft (Minister of Economic Affairs) and chairman of the FDP, lived in the district of Eschweiler.

International relations

Bad Münstereifel is twinned with: *

Ashford Ashford may refer to: Places Australia *Ashford, New South Wales *Ashford, South Australia *Electoral district of Ashford, South Australia Ireland *Ashford, County Wicklow *Ashford Castle, County Galway United Kingdom * Ashford, Kent, a town ** ...

, United Kingdom * Fougères, France.

References

External links

www.badmuenstereifel.de the official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bad Munstereifel Towns in North Rhine-Westphalia Spa towns in Germany Euskirchen (district)