Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources;

Low Franconian Low Franconian, Low Frankish, NetherlandicSarah Grey Thomason, Terrence Kaufman: ''Language Contact, Creolization, and Genetic Linguistics'', University of California Press, 1991, p. 321. (Calling it "Low Frankish (or Netherlandish)".)Scott Shay ...

and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city 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 state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state and the seventh-largest city in Germany, with a population of 617,280. Düsseldorf is located at the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...

of two rivers: the

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

and the

Düssel The Düssel is a small right tributary of the river Rhine in North Rhine Westphalia, Germany. Its source is east of Wülfrath. It flows westward through the Neander Valley where the fossils of the first known to be Neanderthal man were found ...

, a small

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

. The ''-dorf'' suffix means "village" in German (English

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical ef ...

: '' thorp''); its use is unusual for a settlement as large as Düsseldorf. Most of the city lies on the right bank of the Rhine. Düsseldorf lies in the centre of both the

Rhine-Ruhr The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region (german: Metropolregion Rhein-Ruhr) is the largest metropolitan region in Germany, with over ten million inhabitants. A polycentric conurbation with several major urban concentrations, the region covers ...

and the Rhineland Metropolitan Region. It neighbours the

Cologne Bonn Region The Cologne Bonn Region (German: ''Region Köln/Bonn'') is a metropolitan area in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany, covering the cities of Cologne, Bonn and Leverkusen, as well as the districts of Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis, Oberbergischer ...

to the south and the

Ruhr The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...

to the north. It is the largest city in the German

dialect area (closely related to

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

). Mercer's 2012 Quality of Living survey ranked Düsseldorf the sixth most livable city in the world.

Düsseldorf Airport Düsseldorf Airport (german: link=no, Flughafen Düsseldorf, ; until March 2013 ''Düsseldorf International Airport''; ) is the international airport of Düsseldorf, the capital of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is about north ...

is Germany's fourth-busiest airport, serving as the most important international airport for the inhabitants of the densely populated

, Germany's largest urban area. Düsseldorf is an international business and financial centre, renowned for its fashion and trade fairs, and is headquarters to one

Fortune Global 500 The ''Fortune'' Global 500, also known as Global 500, is an annual ranking of the top 500 corporations worldwide as measured by revenue. The list is compiled and published annually by ''Fortune'' magazine. Methodology Until 1989, it listed onl ...

and two DAX companies.

Messe Düsseldorf The Messe Düsseldorf is a trade fair ground and organizer, based in Düsseldorf, Germany. With a workforce of 1,459 employees worldwide (2006) and a total exhibition space of 306,000 m2 (of which 262,700 m2 is indoors) in Düsseldorf, ...

organises nearly one fifth of premier trade shows. As second largest city of the

Rhineland The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. Term Historically, the Rhinelands ...

, Düsseldorf holds Rhenish Carnival celebrations every year in February/March, the Düsseldorf carnival celebrations being the third most popular in Germany after those held in

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

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

. There are 22 institutions of higher education in the city including the Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, the university of applied sciences (

Hochschule Düsseldorf The Hochschule Düsseldorf is a Fachhochschule (University of Applied Sciences) with departments for social sciences and cultural studies, technical sciences, architecture, media, design and business education in Düsseldorf. Its foundation was in ...

), the academy of arts (

Kunstakademie Düsseldorf The Kunstakademie Düsseldorf is the academy of fine arts of the state of North Rhine Westphalia at the city of Düsseldorf, Germany. Notable artists who studied or taught at the academy include Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Magdalena Jetelová ...

, whose members include

Joseph Beuys Joseph Heinrich Beuys ( , ; 12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German artist, teacher, performance artist, and art theorist whose work reflected concepts of humanism, sociology, and anthroposophy. He was a founder of a provocative art mov ...

Emanuel Leutze Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze (May 24, 1816July 18, 1868) was a German-American history painter best known for his 1851 painting '' Washington Crossing the Delaware''. He is associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting. Biography Leutze was born ...

August Macke August Robert Ludwig Macke (3 January 1887 – 26 September 1914) was a German Expressionist painter. He was one of the leading members of the German Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider). He lived during a particularly act ...

Gerhard Richter Gerhard Richter (; born 9 February 1932) is a German visual artist. Richter has produced abstract as well as photorealistic paintings, and also photographs and glass pieces. He is widely regarded as one of the most important contemporary German ...

Sigmar Polke Sigmar Polke (13 February 1941 – 10 June 2010) was a German painter and photographer. Polke experimented with a wide range of styles, subject matters and materials. In the 1970s, he concentrated on photography, returning to paint in the 1980s ...

, and

Andreas Gursky Andreas Gursky (born 15 January 1955) is a German photographer and professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany. He is known for his large format architecture and landscape colour photographs, often using a high point of view. His works ...

), and the university of music ( Robert-Schumann-Musikhochschule Düsseldorf). The city is also known for its influence on electronic/experimental music (

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize t ...

) and its Japanese community. Düsseldorf is classified as a

GaWC The Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) is a think tank that studies the relationships between world cities in the context of globalization. It is based in the geography department of Loughborough University in Leicestershir ...

Beta+ world city.

History

Early development

When the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

was strengthening its position throughout Europe, a few

Germanic tribes The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and e ...

clung on in

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found ...

y territory off the eastern banks of the

. In the 7th and 8th centuries, the odd

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from fish stocking, stocked bodies of water such as fish pond, ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. ...

settlement could be found at the point where the small river

flows into the Rhine. It was from such settlements that the city of Düsseldorf grew. Duesseldorf-Kupferstich-Merian

Jan van der Heyden and Adriaen van de Velde - View of Düsseldorf with the church of St

The first written mention of Düsseldorf (then called ''Dusseldorp'' in the local

Low Rhenish Meuse-Rhenish (German: ''Rheinmaasländisch'', Dutch: ''Maas-Rijnlands'', and French: ''francique rhéno-mosan'') is the modern term for literature written in the Middle Ages in the greater Meuse-Rhine area, in a literary language that is eff ...

dialect) dates back to 1135. Under Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa the small town of

Kaiserswerth Kaiserswerth is one of the oldest quarters of the City of Düsseldorf, part of Borough 5. It is in the north of the city and next to the river Rhine. It houses the where Florence Nightingale worked. Kaiserswerth has an area of , and 7,923 inh ...

to the north of Düsseldorf became a well-fortified outpost, where soldiers kept a watchful eye on every movement on the Rhine. Kaiserswerth eventually became a suburb of Düsseldorf in 1929. In 1186, Düsseldorf came under the rule of the Counts of

Berg Berg may refer to: People *Berg (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Berg Ng (born 1960), Hong Kong actor * Berg (footballer) (born 1989), Brazilian footballer Former states * Berg (state), county and duchy of the Hol ...

. 14 August 1288 is one of the most important dates in the history of Düsseldorf. On this day the sovereign Count

Adolf VIII of Berg Adolf VIII of Berg (also referred to as Adolf V) (c. 1240 – 28 September 1296) was the eldest son of Count Adolf VII of Berg and Margaret of Hochstaden.Walther Möller, ''Stammtafeln westdeutscher Adelsgeschlechter im Mittelalter'' (Darmstadt, 19 ...

granted the village on the banks of the Düssel

town privileges Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...

. Before this, a bloody struggle for power had taken place between the Archbishop of

and the count of

, culminating in the

Battle of Worringen The Battle of Worringen was fought on 5 June 1288 near the town of Worringen (also spelled Woeringen), which is now the northernmost borough of Cologne. It was the decisive battle of the War of the Limburg Succession, fought for the possession ...

NRW, Dusseldorf, Rheinturm - view to Landtag

Rheinturm Düsseldorf NRW mit Sternschnuppe

The Archbishop of Cologne's forces were wiped out by the forces of the count of

who were supported by citizens and farmers of Cologne and Düsseldorf, paving the way for Düsseldorf's elevation to city status, which is commemorated today by a monument on the Burgplatz. The custom of turning cartwheels is credited to the children of Düsseldorf. There are variations of the origin Düsseldorfer Radschläger of the cartwheeling children. Today the symbol (Der Radschläger) represents the story and every year the Düsseldorfers celebrate by having a cartwheeling contest. After this battle the relationship between the four cities deteriorated, because they were commercial rivals; it is often said that there is a kind of hostility between the citizens of Cologne and Düsseldorf. Today, it finds its expression mainly in a humorous form (especially during the Rhineland '' Karneval'') and in sports. A

market square The market square (or sometimes, the market place) is a square meant for trading, in which a market is held. It is an important feature of many towns and cities around the world.city walls A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

on all four sides. In 1380, the dukes of

moved their seat to the town and Düsseldorf was made regional capital of the Duchy of Berg. During the following centuries several famous landmarks were built, including the . In 1609, the ducal line of the

United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg The so-called United Duchies of Jülich-Cleves-Berg was a territory in the Holy Roman Empire between 1521 and 1666, formed from the personal union of the duchies of Jülich, Cleves and Berg. The name was resurrected after the Congress of Vie ...

died out, and after a virulent struggle over succession, Jülich and Berg fell to the

Wittelsbach The House of Wittelsbach () is a German dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including Bavaria, the Palatinate, Holland and Zeeland, Sweden (with Finland), Denmark, Norway, Hungary (with Romania), Bohemia, the Electorate ...

Counts of

Palatinate-Neuburg Palatinate-Neuburg (german: Herzogtum Pfalz-Neuburg) was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire, founded in 1505 by a branch of the House of Wittelsbach. Its capital was Neuburg an der Donau. Its area was about 2,750 km², with a population of ...

, who made Düsseldorf their main domicile, even after they inherited the

Electorate of the Palatinate The Electoral Palatinate (german: Kurpfalz) or the Palatinate (), officially the Electorate of the Palatinate (), was a state that was part of the Holy Roman Empire. The electorate had its origins under the rulership of the Counts Palatine o ...

, in 1685, becoming now

Prince-elector The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, la, Princeps Elector), or electors for short, were the members of the electoral college that elected the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th century onwards, the princ ...

s as Electors Palatine. Under the art-loving Johann Wilhelm II (r. 1690–1716), a vast

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

with a huge selection of paintings and sculptures, were housed in the ''Stadtschloss'' (city castle). After his death, the city fell on hard times again, especially after Elector Charles Theodore inherited Bavaria and moved the electoral court to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

. With him he took the

art collection A museum is distinguished by a collection of often unique objects that forms the core of its activities for exhibitions, education, research, etc. This differentiates it from an archive or library, where the contents may be more paper-based, ...

, which became part of what is now the

Alte Pinakothek The Alte Pinakothek (, ''Old Pinakothek'') is an art museum located in the Kunstareal area in Munich, Germany. It is one of the oldest galleries in the world and houses a significant collection of Old Master paintings. The name Alte (Old) Pi ...

in Munich. Destruction and poverty struck Düsseldorf after the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fre ...

Napoleon 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 wh ...

made Berg a

Grand Duchy A grand duchy is a country or territory whose official head of state or ruler is a monarch bearing the title of grand duke or grand duchess. Relatively rare until the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the term was often used in th ...

and Düsseldorf its capital. Johann Devaranne, a leader of Solingen's resistance to Napoleon's conscription decrees, was executed here in 1813. After Napoleon's defeat, the whole

including Berg was given to the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...

in 1815. The

Rhine Province The Rhine Province (german: Rheinprovinz), also known as Rhenish Prussia () or synonymous with the Rhineland (), was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822 to 1946. ...

's parliament was established in Düsseldorf. By the mid-19th century, Düsseldorf enjoyed a revival thanks to 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 ...

as the city boasted 100,000 inhabitants by 1882; the figure doubled in 1892.

World War I

During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

the

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

(RNS) undertook the first Entente strategic bombing missions on 22 September 1914, when it bombed the Zeppelin bases in Düsseldorf.

Weimar Republic

In 1920, Düsseldorf became the centre of the General Strike. On 15 April 1920, 45 delegates of the German Miners Union were murdered by the

Freikorps (, "Free Corps" or "Volunteer Corps") were irregular German and other European military volunteer units, or paramilitary, that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenary or private armies, rega ...

World War II

The Rabbi of the Düsseldorf Jewish Community fled to the Netherlands and died in KZ

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed int ...

in 1943. The city was a target of

strategic bombing during World War II World War II (1939–1945) involved sustained strategic bombing of railways, harbours, cities, workers' and civilian housing, and industrial districts in enemy territory. Strategic bombing as a military strategy is distinct both from close ...

, particularly during the RAF bombing campaign in 1943 when over 700 bombers were used in a single night. Raids continued late into the war. As part of the campaign against German oil facilities, the RAF raid of 20–21 February on the Rhenania Ossag refinery in the Reisholz district of the city halted oil production there. The Allied ground advance into Germany reached Düsseldorf in mid-April 1945. The United States 97th Infantry Division easily captured the city on 18 April 1945, after the local German Resistance group launched Aktion Rheinland.

German Federal Republic

In 1946, Düsseldorf was made capital of the new

federal state A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-gover ...

. The city's reconstruction proceeded at a frantic pace and the economic transformation guided Düsseldorf's economic growth.

Geography

Physical geography

Rheinuferpromenade in Düsseldorf DSCF1161

Düsseldorf lies at the centre of the

Lower Rhine The Lower Rhine (german: Niederrhein; kilometres 660 to 1,033 of the river Rhine) flows from Bonn, Germany, to the North Sea at Hook of Holland, Netherlands (including the Nederrijn or "Nether Rhine" within the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta); ...

basin, where the delta of the

flows into the Rhine. The city lies on the east side of the Rhine, except

District 4 District 4 can refer to: *District 4, Düsseldorf, in Germany *District 4, Grand Bassa County District #4 is one of six districts located in Grand Bassa County, Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the ...

( Oberkassel,

Niederkassel Niederkassel ( Ripuarian: ''Neddekaaßel'') is a town in the Rhein-Sieg district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of around 37,000 people. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, approx. north-east of Bonn and sout ...

, Heerdt and Lörick). Across the Rhine, the city of

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 ...

stands on the delta of the

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 Cardina ...

. Düsseldorf lies southwest of the

urban area, and in the middle of the

metropolitan region. Düsseldorf is built entirely on

alluvium Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. ...

, mud, sand, clay and occasionally gravel. The highest point in Düsseldorf is the top of Sandberg in the far eastern part of the city ( Hubbelrath borough) at . The lowest point is at the far northern end in

Wittlaer Wittlaer is an urban quarter of Düsseldorf, part of Borough 5. It borders Stockum, Kalkum, Angermund, and the city of Duisburg. It is close to Düsseldorf Airport. Wittlaer has the lowest point in Düsseldorf, where the Schwarzbach flows into ...

borough where the Schwarzbach enters the Rhine, with an average elevation of .

Adjacent cities and districts

The following districts and cities border Düsseldorf (clockwise starting from the north): the City of Duisburg, the District of Mettmann ( Ratingen,

Mettmann Mettmann () is a town in the northern part of the Bergisches Land, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Mettmann, Germany's most densely populated rural district. The town lies east of Düsseldorf ...

Erkrath Erkrath () is a town in the district of Mettmann, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Erkrath is situated on the river Düssel, directly east of Düsseldorf and west of Wuppertal, close to the famous Neandertal. It has two stations, ...

Hilden Hilden is a town in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is situated in the District of Mettmann, west of Solingen and east of Düsseldorf on the right side of the Rhine. It is a middle sized industrial town with a forest and nume ...

, Langenfeld, and Monheim), and the District of Neuss (

Dormagen Dormagen (; Ripuarian: ''Dormaje'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany in the Rhein-Kreis Neuss. Geography Dormagen is situated between Düsseldorf – Cologne – Mönchengladbach on the western bank of the river Rhine. Division of ...

, Neuss, and

Meerbusch Meerbusch () is a town in Rhein-Kreis Neuss, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It has been an incorporated town since 1970. Meerbusch is the municipality with the most income millionaires in North Rhine-Westphalia. Geography Meerbusch is a town i ...

Climate

The city has an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

: ''Cfb'', mild in relation to

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In t ...

). Like the rest of the lower

, Düsseldorf experiences moderate winters with little snowfall and mild to warm summers. The average annual temperature is with an average yearly precipitation of . The dominant wind direction is from the west with velocities in the range of 3 to 4 m/s (7–9 mph), with gusts of 3.5 −4.8 m/s (8–10.7 mph). The wind is calm (defined as being under 2 m/s or 4.5 mph) about 35% of the time, more frequently at night and in the winter.

Demographics

With a population of 612,178 within the city boundaries (31 December 2015), Düsseldorf is Germany's seventh largest city. Its population surpassed the threshold of 100,000 inhabitants during the height of industrialisation in 1882, and peaked at just over 705,000 in 1962. The city then began to lose residents with many moving into neighbouring municipalities. However, since the late 1990s, the city's population has been slowly rising again. A total of 109,883 (18%) of Düsseldorf's population are foreigners (31 December 2008), the majority of whom come from within

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

(81,742). The largest

national minorities The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...

are

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, ot ...

, and

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in ...

. Düsseldorf and its surroundings have the third-largest Japanese community in Europe and the largest in Germany (about 11,000 people). Düsseldorf has the third-largest

Jewish community Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

in Germany, with about 7,000 members.

Government

Boroughs

Since 1975, Düsseldorf is divided into ten administrative boroughs. Each borough (''

Stadtbezirk A ''Stadtbezirk'' (also called ''Ortsbezirk'' in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate) is an administrative division in Germany, which is part of a larger city. It is translated as " borough". In Germany, ''Stadtbezirke'' usually only exist in a me ...

'') has its own elected borough council (Bezirksvertretung) and its own borough mayor (Bezirksvorsteher). The borough councils are advisory only. Each borough is further subdivided into quarters (''

Stadtteil A quarter is a section of an urban settlement. A quarter can be administratively defined and its borders officially designated, and it may have its own administrative structure (subordinate to that of the city, town or other urban area). Such a ...

e''). There are 50 quarters in Düsseldorf.

Mayor

The current Mayor of Düsseldorf is Stephan Keller of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who was 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, Stephan Keller , align=left, Christian Democratic Union , 83,425 , 34.1 , 118,308 , 56.0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Thomas Geisel , align=left,

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 ...

, 64,203 , 26.3 , 92,999 , 44.0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Stefan Engstfeld , 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 ...

, 42,463 , 17.4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann , align=left, Free Democratic Party , 30,584 , 12.5 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Florian Josef Hoffmann , 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. ...

, 6,564 , 2.7 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Udo Adam Bonn , align=left, The Left , 5,257 , 2.2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Dominique Mirus , align=left,

Die PARTEI (''Party for Labour, Rule of Law, Animal Protection, Promotion of Elites and Grassroots Democratic Initiative''), or Die PARTEI (''The PARTY''), is a German political party. It was founded in 2004 by the editors of the German satirical magazi ...

, 3,039 , 1.2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Mark Schenk , align=left,

Volt Germany Volt Germany (, mostly known by the abbreviated name Volt) is a social-liberal pro-European, eurofederalist political party in Germany. It is the German branch of Volt Europa, a political movement that operates on a European level. Italian And ...

, 2,255 , 0.9 , - , , align=left, Claudia Krüger , align=left, Animal Welfare Here! , 1,939 , 0.8 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Hans-Joachim Grumbach , align=left,

Free Voters Free Voters (german: Freie Wähler, FW or FWG) in Germany may belong to an association of people which participates in an election without having the status of a registered political party. Usually it involves a locally organized group of voters ...

, 1,192 , 0.5 , - , , align=left, Celine Coldewe , align=left, Climate List Düsseldorf , 954 , 0.4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Michael Baumeister , align=left,

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

, 947 , 0.4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Marc Olejak , align=left, Pirate Party Germany , 792 , 0.3 , - , , align=left, Markus Brakonier , align=left, German Sport Party , 383 , 0.2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Andre Maniera , align=left, The Republicans , 325 , 0.1 , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 244,322 ! 98.8 ! 211,307 ! 99.3 , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 3,008 ! 1.2 ! 1,571 ! 0.7 , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 247,330 ! 100.0 ! 212,878 ! 100.0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 470,511 ! 52.6 ! 470,312 ! 45.3 , - , colspan=7, Source
State Returning Officer

City council

The Düsseldorf city council (''Düsseldorfer Stadtrat'') 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) , 81,833 , 33.4 , 3.3 , 30 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(Grüne) , 58,881 , 24.0 , 10.3 , 22 , 11 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(SPD) , 43,949 , 17.9 , 11.4 , 16 , 8 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Democratic Party (FDP) , 22,453 , 9.2 , 2.2 , 8 , 2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, The Left (Die Linke) , 9,951 , 4.1 , 1.1 , 4 , ±0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(AfD) , 8,776 , 3.6 , 0.6 , 3 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(Volt) , 4,512 , 1.8 , New , 2 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(PARTEI) , 4,371 , 1.8 , New , 2 , New , - , , align=left, Animal Welfare Here! (Tierschutz hier!) , 3,437 , 1.4 , New , 1 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(FW) , 2,212 , 0.9 , 0.3 , 1 , ±0 , - , , align=left, Climate List Düsseldorf (Klimaliste) , 2,124 , 0.9 , New , 1 , New , - , colspan=7 bgcolor=lightgrey, , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Pirate Party Germany (Piraten) , 1,464 , 0.6 , 1.1 , 0 , 1 , - , , align=left, German Sport Party (DSP) , 642 , 0.3 , New , 0 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, The Republicans (REP) , 586 , 0.2 , 0.4 , 0 , 1 , - , , align=left, RESISTANCE 2020 We for Düsseldorf , 76 , 0.0 , New , 0 , New , - ! colspan=2, Valid votes ! 245,271 ! 99.2 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Invalid votes ! 2,085 ! 0.8 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Total ! 247,356 ! 100.0 ! ! 90 ! 8 , - ! colspan=2, Electorate/voter turnout ! 470,511 ! 52.6 ! 3.4 ! ! , - , colspan=7, Source
State Returning Officer

Economy

Duesseldorf Immermannstr bilingual streetname

Düsseldorf has become one of the top

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that ...

centres in Germany. With two of the four big German providers of mobile frequencies, D2 Vodafone and E-Plus, Düsseldorf leads the German

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whi ...

market. There are many foreign information and communication technology companies in Düsseldorf such as

Huawei Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various sma ...

, NTT,

Ericsson (lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in inform ...

, Oppo, Vivo and

Xiaomi Corporation (; ), commonly known as Xiaomi and registered as Xiaomi Inc., is a Chinese designer and manufacturer of consumer electronics and related software, home appliances, and household items. Behind Samsung, it is the second largest ...

. There are 18

internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise priva ...

s located in the capital of North Rhine-Westphalia. There are two airlines with headquarters in the city:

Eurowings Eurowings GmbH is a German low-cost carrier headquartered in Düsseldorf and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. Founded in 1996, it serves a network of domestic and European destinations and formerly also operated some long-hau ...

and formerly independent

LTU International LTU, legally incorporated as ''LTU Lufttransport-Unternehmen GmbH'', was a German leisure airline headquartered in Düsseldorf. It operated medium and long-haul routes and maintained hubs at Düsseldorf Airport, Munich Airport and Berlin Tegel Ai ...

. Many of the internet companies in Düsseldorf have their roots in the world of advertising: there are 400

advertising agencies An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generally ...

in Düsseldorf, among them three of the largest in Germany: BBDO Group, Grey Global Group and

Publicis Publicis Groupe is a French multinational advertising and public relations company. One of the oldest and largest marketing and communications companies in the world by revenue, it is headquartered in Paris. After 1945, the little-known Paris ...

. A number of affiliates of foreign agencies deserve mention as well, such as

Ogilvy & Mather Ogilvy is a New York City-based British advertising, marketing, and public relations agency. It was founded in 1850 by Edmund Mather as a London-based advertising agency, agency. In 1964, the firm became known as Ogilvy & Mather after merging wit ...

Dentsu Dentsu Inc. ( ja, 株式会社電通 ''Kabushiki-gaisha Dentsū'' or 電通 ''Dentsū'' for short) is a Japanese international advertising and public relations joint stock company headquartered in Tokyo. Dentsu is currently the largest advertis ...

Hakuhodo is a Japanese advertising and public relations company. It is headquartered at Akasaka Biz Tower in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo. History Hakuhodo is one of the oldest advertising agencies in Japan and was founded by Hironao Seki at Nihonbashi-Hon ...

TBWA TBWA Worldwide is an international advertising agency whose main headquarters are in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. Since 1993, the agency has been a unit of Omnicom Group, the world's second largest advertising agency holdin ...

, and DDB. There are also about 200

publishing houses Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

in Düsseldorf.

Peek & Cloppenburg Peek & Cloppenburg is an international chain of department stores from Germany. The chain is operated by two separate and independent companies, Peek & Cloppenburg KG Düsseldorf (known as P&C West) and Peek & Cloppenburg KG Hamburg (know ...

(fashion);

Uniper Uniper SE �juːnipɚis an energy company based in Düsseldorf, Germany. The name of the company is a portmanteau of "unique" and "performance" given by long-term employee Gregor Recke. Uniper was formed by the separation of E.ON's fossil f ...

(electricity generation);

L'Oréal L'Oréal S.A. () is a French personal care company headquartered in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine with a registered office in Paris. It is the world's largest cosmetics company and has developed activities in the field concentrating on hair color, ...

Germany (Cosmetics and Beauty);

Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, commonly known as Henkel, is a German multinational chemical and consumer goods company headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany. It is active in both the consumer and industrial sectors. Founded in 1876, the DAX company is organ ...

AG & Co. KGaA (Branded Consumer Goods and Industrial technologies); Metro (wholesale, retail); Ceconomy (retail);

Esprit Holdings Esprit Holdings Limited () is a publicly owned manufacturer of clothing, footwear, accessories, jewellery and housewares under the Esprit label. The company is headquartered in North Point, Hong Kong, and Ratingen (near Düsseldorf), Germany. In ...

(fashion, headquarters in Ratingen near Düsseldorf);

BASF BASF SE () is a German multinational chemical company and the largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters is located in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The BASF Group comprises subsidiaries and joint ventures in more than 80 countries ...

Personal Care & Nutrition (formerly

Cognis Cognis was a worldwide supplier of specialty chemicals and nutritional ingredients, headquartered in Monheim am Rhein, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The company employs about 5,600 people and operates production or service centers in almost 3 ...

– chemicals, headquarter in Monheim near Düsseldorf, but production mainly in Düsseldorf).

Daimler AG The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufactu ...

builds the

Mercedes-Benz Sprinter The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is a light commercial vehicle (van) built by Mercedes-Benz Group AG of Stuttgart, Germany as a large van, chassis cab, minibus, and pickup truck. In the past, the Sprinter had been sold under the Mercedes-Benz, Dod ...

light commercial vehicles in Düsseldorf. Since the 1960s, there has been a strong relationship between the city and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. Many Japanese banks and corporations have their European headquarters in Düsseldorf – so many that Düsseldorf has the third largest Japanese community in Europe, after

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

. The "Kö", which stands for Königsallee ("King's Avenue"), is a shopping destination. Some jewellery shops, designer labels, and galleries have their stores here. The Kö has among the highest rents for retail and office space in Germany.

Financial center

The city is an important

financial center A financial centre ( BE), financial center ( AE), or financial hub, is a location with a concentration of participants in banking, asset management, insurance or financial markets with venues and supporting services for these activities to tak ...

. More than 30,000 people work for the financial and insurance sector in Düsseldorf. There are around 170 national and

international financial institutions An international financial institution (IFI) is a financial institution that has been established (or chartered) by more than one country, and hence is subject to international law. Its owners or shareholders are generally national governments, a ...

, and about 130 insurance agencies, and one of Germany's eight

stock exchange A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for t ...

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tr ...

has its German headquarter in Düsseldorf and employs 3.000 people. NRW.BANK is a development bank of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the largest state development bank in Germany. NRW.BANK was spun off from

WestLB WestLB AG (derived from ''Westdeutsche Landesbank'', i.e. "Western German state Bank") was a European commercial bank based in Düsseldorf, Germany which was mainly owned by the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Landesbanks are a group of pa ...

in 2002. Today

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York St ...

and

Commerzbank Commerzbank AG () is a major German bank operating as a universal bank, headquartered in Frankfurt am Main. In the 2019 financial year, the bank was the second largest in Germany by the total value of its balance sheet. Founded in 1870 in Hambur ...

have major branches in Düsseldorf with about 2.000 employees. Düsseldorf is also the most important German financial center for Japanese credit institutions.

MUFG Bank is the largest bank in Japan. It was established on January 1, 2006, following the merger of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd. and UFJ Bank Ltd. MUFG is one of the three so-called Japanese "megabanks" (along with SMBC and Mizuho). As such, ...

, SMBC and

Mizuho Mizuho () literally means "abundant rice" in Japanese and "harvest" in the figurative sense. It was also an ancient name of Japan. It might refer to: Places * Mizuho, Gifu, a city in Gifu * Mizuho, Tokyo, a town in Tokyo * Mizuho Plateau in An ...

have their German headquarters in Düsseldorf. Also Santander has its German headquarters in the Düsseldorf region. Some major insurance companies like ERGO, a subsidiary of Munich Re, and ARAG are located in the city. Several other major financial service companies have their headquarters in the city.

Media

Important newspapers and journals such as ''

Handelsblatt The ''Handelsblatt'' (literally "commerce paper" in English) is a German-language business newspaper published in Düsseldorf by Handelsblatt Media Group, formerly known as Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt. History and profile ''Handelsblatt'' was ...

'', ''

Rheinische Post ''Rheinische Post'' is a major German regional daily newspaper published since 1946 by the ''Rheinische Post Verlagsgesellschaft GmbH'' company, and headquartered in Düsseldorf. The Post is especially dominant in the western part of North Rhine- ...

'', ''Wirtschaftswoche'', ''Deutsches Wirtschaftsblatt'' and ''VDI-Nachrichten'' are published in Düsseldorf. Almost all of these papers are available online. Renowned filmmaking companies, such as Germany's biggest cinema enterprise, the Riech Group, and TV channels such as WDR and QVC are located in Düsseldorf. The ''Film- und Medienstiftung NRW'' foundation supports the production of film and new media. With regard to movies and movie theatres in Düsseldorf, moviegoers are able to view movies in a range of different languages. Many mainstream movies are shown in English, Spanish, French, and German.

Transport

Düsseldorf Airport

, also referred to as Rhein-Ruhr Airport, is located north of the city centre and can easily be reached by train or the

S-Bahn The S-Bahn is the name of hybrid urban-suburban rail systems serving a metropolitan region in German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit systems, while smaller ones often resemble c ...

urban railway. There is a long-distance train station served by regional and national services, which is linked to the airport by the SkyTrain, an automatic

people mover A people mover or automated people mover (APM) is a type of small scale automated guideway transit system. The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks. ...

. Another station situated under the terminal building carries the S-Bahn line ( S11) to Düsseldorf Central Station, and to

as well as a few selected night services. After those of Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin, Düsseldorf Airport is Germany's third largest commercial airport, with 25.5 million passengers annually (2019). The airport offers 180 destinations on 4 continents, and is served by 70 airlines. The airport buildings were partly destroyed by a devastating fire caused by welding works in 1996, killing 17 people. It was completely rebuilt and the Skytrain installed.

Railway

The city is a major hub in the

Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the ...

(DB) railway network. More than 1,000 trains stop in Düsseldorf daily. Düsseldorf Central Station at Konrad-Adenauer-Platz is located in

Düsseldorf-Stadtmitte Stadtmitte (meaning: ''city centre'') is an urban quarter in the central Borough 1 of Düsseldorf, Germany. Stadtmitte borders with Carlstadt, Pempelfort, Oberbilk and the old town of Düsseldorf: Düsseldorf-Altstadt. Stadtmitte has an are ...

. Several

Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn The Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn (german: S-Bahn Rhein-Ruhr) is a polycentric and electrically driven S-train network covering the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Region in the German federated state of North Rhine-Westphalia. This includes most of the Ruhr (and ci ...

lines connect Düsseldorf to other cities of

. Local Düsseldorf Straßenbahn and light rail

Düsseldorf Stadtbahn __NOTOC__ The Düsseldorf Stadtbahn, together with the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn and the Düsseldorf Straßenbahn (Tram), is the backbone of the public transport system of Düsseldorf, Germany, and is integrated in the Rhine-Ruhr Stadtbahn network. T ...

traffic, as well as local bus traffic, is carried out by the city-owned

Rheinbahn Rheinbahn is a public transport operator operating in Düsseldorf, Meerbusch and Kreis Mettmann. Its network consists of the Düsseldorf Stadtbahn, a network of 11 Stadtbahn (light rail) lines which are integrated in the Rhine-Ruhr Stadtbahn n ...

which operates within the VRR

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typi ...

system. The light rail system also serves neighbouring cities and is partially operated underground. The Central Station and the Airport Station (Flughafen-Bahnhof) are connected to the national and European high-speed systems (Intercity/Eurocity, IC/EC and

InterCityExpress The Intercity Express (commonly known as ICE ()) is a system of high-speed trains predominantly running in Germany. It also serves some destinations in Austria, Denmark (ceased in 2017 but planned to resume in 2022), France, Belgium, Switzerl ...

Taxi

In Düsseldorf there are 1320 officially licensed Taxis. According to the regulations, the cars are always in ivory colour. On the back window you always find a black number on a yellow patch. Credit card payment has to be accepted at the Taxi stands at Airport of Düsseldorf. The supply of taxis in Düsseldorf is over the German average. Two taxi organisations cover the market. "Taxi-Düsseldorf" offers more than 1180 cabs in different sizes for max. 8 Passengers. The smaller one is "Rhein-Taxi" with more than 120 cabs. It is obligatory to carry out any journeys to destinations in the city and directly neighbouring cities.

Carsharing

In addition to stationary car sharing, where vehicles must be returned to their original location after use,

one-way carsharing One-way carsharing is a type of carsharing that enables users to begin and end their trip at different locations. The pick-up and drop-off locations can be either restricted to traditional rental stations, or can be anywhere within an operational a ...

vehicles have also been available for hire since 2012. These vehicles, which can be parked anywhere where parking is normally allowed within Düsseldorf, can be rented from Car2go, Greenwheels, Stadtmobil and DriveNow.

Autobahn

North Rhine-Westphalia has the densest network of

autobahn The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track' ...

s in Germany and Düsseldorf is directly accessible via the A3,

A44 A44 may refer to : * A44 road (Great Britain), a road connecting Oxford, England and Aberystwyth, Wales * A44 motorway (Germany), a road connecting Aachen at the German-Belgian border and Kassel * A44 motorway (Netherlands), a motorway in the Nethe ...

, A46, A52, A57, A59 and A524.

Cycling

Düsseldorf is connected to some national and international cycling paths, including EV15 The Rhine Cycle Route. The city of Düsseldorf is a member of the German North Rhine-Westphalia District, Municipality and City Friends of Pedestrians and Cyclists Working Group, who bestowed upon Düsseldorf the title of "Friend of Cyclists City" in 2007, although the city still has a few gaps in the network of cycle paths in the eyes of many of its citizens.

Culture and recreation

Elector Jan Wellem and his wife

Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici (11 August 1667 – 18 February 1743) was an Italian noblewoman who was the last lineal descendant of the main branch of the House of Medici. A patron of the arts, she bequeathed the Medicis' large art collection, in ...

of Tuscany, were patrons of Düsseldorf's first significant cultural activities in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...

, whose 200th birthday was celebrated in 1997 and who originally had a proposed

memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of ...

in the city dedicated to him; Clara and

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

; and as

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sym ...

, are the most prominent artists related to the city, which is home to a distinguished

Academy of Fine Arts The following is a list of notable art schools. Accredited non-profit art and design colleges * Adelaide Central School of Art * Alberta College of Art and Design * Art Academy of Cincinnati * Art Center College of Design * The Art Institute ...

. The Düsseldorf cultural scene comprises traditional and

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretica ...

, classical and glamorous. The world-famous state art collection of North Rhine-Westphalia, the highly acclaimed

Deutsche Oper am Rhein The Deutsche Oper am Rhein (German Opera on the Rhine) is an opera company based in Düsseldorf and Duisburg. The opera also has an associated classical ballet company. Axel Kober has been its Music Director since 2009. The resident orchestra, t ...

(opera), and the

Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus The is a theatre building and company in Düsseldorf. The present building with two major auditoria was designed by the architect and built between 1965 and 1969. It opened in 1970. History The theatre dates back to 1747 when during the ...

(theatre), artistic home of Gustaf Gründgens, are major elements of Düsseldorf's reputation as a centre of the fine arts.

Beer

Düsseldorf is well known for its

Altbier Altbier (German: ''old beer'') is a style of beer brewed in the Rhineland, especially around the city of Düsseldorf, Germany. It is a copper coloured beer whose name comes from it being top-fermented, an older method than the bottom ferme ...

, a hoppy beer which translates as ''old

tyle Tyle may refer to: People * Chris Tyle (born 1955), American musician Places * Tyle Mill, England * Tyle or Tylis Other * 21970 Tyle, minor planet See also * Tile Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured f ...

beer'', a reference to the pre-

lager Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storag ...

brewing method of using a warm

top-fermenting yeast Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are estimated to constitut ...

like British pale ales. Over time the Alt yeast adjusted to lower temperatures, and the Alt brewers would store or lager the beer after fermentation, leading to a cleaner, crisper beer. The name "altbier" first appeared in the 19th century to differentiate the beers of Düsseldorf from the new

pale lager Pale lager is a very pale-to- golden-colored lager beer with a well- attenuated body and a varying degree of noble hop bitterness. The brewing process for this beer developed in the mid-19th century, when Gabriel Sedlmayr took pale ale bre ...

that was gaining a hold on Germany. Brewers in Düsseldorf used the pale malts that were used for the modern pale lagers, but retained the old ("alt") method of using warm fermenting yeasts. The first brewery to use the name Alt was Schumacher which opened in 1838. The founder, Mathias Schumacher, allowed the beer to mature in cool conditions in wooden casks for longer than normal, and laid the foundation for the modern alt – amber coloured and lagered. The result is a pale beer that has some of the lean dryness of a lager but with fruity notes as well. There are five pub-breweries in Düsseldorf which brew Altbier on the premises: Füchschen, Schumacher, Schlüssel, Uerige and Brauerei Kürzer. Four of the five are in the historic centre of Düsseldorf (Altstadt); the other (Schumacher), between the Altstadt and Düsseldorf Central railway station (Hauptbahnhof), also maintains an establishment in the Altstadt, Im Goldenen Kessel, across the street from Schlüssel. Each (except Brauerei Kürzer) produces a special, secret, seasonal "Sticke" version in small quantities, though the names vary: Schlüssel spells it "Stike", without the "c", while Schumacher calls its special beer "Latzenbier", meaning "slat beer", possibly because the kegs from which it was poured had been stored on raised shelves.Horst Dornbusch, ''Altbier'', Boulder, CO: Brewers Publications. Füchschen's seasonal is its Weihnachtsbier (Christmas beer), available in bottles starting mid-November, and served in the brewpub on

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

Music and nightlife

Sensation White 2008 Silvester - LTU Arena, Düsseldorf

Since the 1950s the " Kom(m)ödchen" has been one of the most prominent political cabarets of Germany. The city's best-known contribution to the culture of modern

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fu ...

is the influential avant-garde

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

band

. Formed by a few Düsseldorf-born musicians,

is internationally known as the most significant band in the history of

post-war In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period ...

German music Germany claims some of the most renowned composers, singers, producers and performers of the world. Germany is the largest music market in Europe, and third largest in the world. German classical music is one of the most performed in the world; ...

and as pioneers in electronic music.Desperately seeking Kraftwerk
"Kraftwerk asso far ahead of tstime that the rest of the world...spent 25 years inventing new musical genres in an attempt to catch up. Another famous Synth-pop band to come from the city was

Propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

. House, techno, hip-hop, trip-hop, synth-pop, trance, electroclash: Kraftwerk's influence looms over all of them. It's difficult to imagine what rock and pop music would sound like today if Kraftwerk had never existed", ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', 24 July 2003; accessed 8 December 2014. Other influential musical groups originating from Düsseldorf include

Neu! Neu! (; German for "New!"; styled in block capitals) were a West German krautrock band formed in Düsseldorf in 1971 by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother following their departure from Kraftwerk. The group's albums were produced by Conny Plan ...

, formed in 1971 by

Klaus Dinger Klaus Dinger (24 March 1946 – 21 March 2008) was a German musician and songwriter most famous for his contributions to the seminal krautrock band Neu!. He was also the guitarist and chief songwriter of New wave music, new wave group La Düsse ...

and

Michael Rother Michael Rother (born 2 September 1950) is a German experimental musician, best known for being a founding member of the influential bands Neu! and Harmonia, and an early member of the band Kraftwerk. Early life and education Born in 1950, ...

, after their split from Kraftwerk, and La Düsseldorf, also formed by Dinger in 1976 shortly after Neu! disbanded. Both groups had a significant influence on a variety of subsequent rock,

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-r ...

, and

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electro ...

artists. Internationally known

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...

band

Warlock A warlock is a male practitioner of witchcraft. Etymology and terminology The most commonly accepted etymology derives '' warlock'' from the Old English '' wǣrloga'', which meant "breaker of oaths" or "deceiver" and was given special applicati ...

was formed in Düsseldorf in 1982. Its frontwoman,

Doro Pesch Dorothee Pesch (born 3 June 1964), known professionally as Doro Pesch or simply Doro, is a German heavy metal singer and the former frontwoman of heavy metal band Warlock. Dubbed the "Metal Queen", Doro's contributions to music and culture mad ...

, had a successful solo career in Europe and Asia since

ended. The punk band Die Toten Hosen, which is famous around the world, also the most popular singers in Germany

Westernhagen The von Westernhagen are a German noble family. The Westernhagens are members of an old Thuringian nobility and originated in Lower Saxony. The first reference to the family was made in 1258. The original family name was von Hagen. The family ...

and

Heino Heinz Georg Kramm (born 13 December 1938), known professionally as Heino, is a German singer of Schlager music, Schlager and traditional Volksmusik. Having sold a total of over 50 million records, he is one of the most successful German musici ...

come from Düsseldorf. The electronic act D.A.F. was formed in the city in 1978, as well as the electronic/industrial pioneers

Die Krupps Die Krupps () ("The Krupps") is a German industrial metal/ EBM band, formed in 1980 by Jürgen Engler and Bernward Malaka in Düsseldorf. The band has had a diverse range of musical influences over time, including the percussive industrial '' ...

in 1980. Another famous formation is

Fehlfarben Fehlfarben is a Neue Deutsche Welle music band from Düsseldorf, Germany, that was formed in 1979. Its founding members were Peter Hein (vocals), former member of the Band ''Mittagspause'' ("lunch break"), Thomas Schwebel (guitar, former Mi ...

. Founded in the late 1970s by Peter Hein, Frank Fenstermacher, Kurt Dahlke and Michael Kemner. Düsseldorf appears in several songs, including ''Düsseldorf'' by the British indie band

Teleman Teleman are an English indie pop band formed in London in 2011. The group consists of Thomas Sanders (vocals, guitar), Pete Cattermoul (bass) and Hiro Amamiya (drums). History Pete Cattermoul and brothers Jonny and Thomas Sanders were previ ...

and ''Wärst du doch in Düsseldorf geblieben'' by Danish singer Dorthe Kollo.

Fashion

Düsseldorf has been the

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fash ...

capital of Germany for decades (it is also a major cultural center for the art and fashion scenes). Berlin, Germany's 'fashion capital' until 1945, lost its position because of its special location within the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet Occupation Zone ( or german: Ostzone, label=none, "East Zone"; , ''Sovetskaya okkupatsionnaya zona Germanii'', "Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany") was an area of Germany in Central Europe that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a ...

. After the

monetary reform Monetary reform is any movement or theory that proposes a system of supplying money and financing the economy that is different from the current system. Monetary reformers may advocate any of the following, among other proposals: * A return t ...

of June 20, 1948, fashionable clothes trends gained importance.

Igedo Igedo (Igedo Company GmbH & Co. KG) is an organiser of fashion fairs and shows established in 1949 and located in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The acronym abbreviates "Interessengemeinschaft Damenoberbekleidung", in English "Commun ...

organised fashion shows staged in Düsseldorf starting in March 1949. There are a number of schools dedicated to fashion design in Düsseldorf, among them ''Akademie Mode & Design'' ( de), ''Design Department'', and ''Mode Design College''.

Carnival

One of the biggest cultural events in Düsseldorf is the '' Karneval'' (also referred to as the "fifth season") which starts every year on 11 November at 11:11 a.m., and reaches its climax on ''

Rosenmontag ( en, Rose Monday) is the highlight of the German (carnival), and takes place on the Shrove Monday before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Mardi Gras, though celebrated on Fat Tuesday, is a similar event. is celebrated in German-speaking ...

'' (Rose Monday), featuring a huge parade through the streets of Düsseldorf. ''Karneval'' ends on ''Aschermittwoch'' (

Ash Wednesday Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and falls on the first day of Lent (the six weeks of penitence before Easter). It is observed by Catholics in the ...

Düsseldorf's cartwheeler

The ''Düsseldorfer Radschläger'' (''boy who does cartwheels'') is said to be the city's oldest tradition. The symbol of the cartwheeler can be found on souvenirs and various things in Düsseldorf have cartwheelers to thank for their names.

Legends of its origin and history

The tradition cannot be linked to one specific historical event. Instead, there are several stories surrounding the beginnings of the Düsseldorf cartwheelers. Probably the most well known version is the

. In the battle of 1288, Count Adolf devastatingly defeated the

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdio ...

. As a consequence of this victory, Düsseldorf obtained

. Inhabitants, especially children, ran joyfully on the streets and performed cartwheels. Another story talks about a wedding procession during which one of the wheels of the wedding carriage broke. In order to fend off the threat of bad luck, a boy supposedly jumped up to the carriage, took hold of the wheel and thus became a living part of the wheel. Whether the story is about the marriage of Jan Wellem and

or the wedding of Margravine

Jakobea of Baden Princess Jakobea of Baden (16 January 1558 – 3 September 1597 in Düsseldorf, buried in the St. Lambert Church in Düsseldorf) was daughter of the Margrave Philibert of Baden-Baden and Mechthild of Bavaria. Life Jakobea of Baden-Baden bec ...

and Johann Wilhelm is debatable. Another story gives an account of the wedding between Margrave Jacobe von Baden and Johann Wilhelm, in 1585. According to legend, she felt miserable about her marriage, but the cartwheelers who displayed their skills next to her carriage were able to make her smile. Numerous travelers were attracted to the city by great exhibitions – the forerunner of today's fairs – between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. During this time the children who did cartwheels found out that it was a profitable source of income. The bourgeoisie accepted this in good humour as a symbolic act of local patriotism. In the beginning the lads shouted ''"för eene Penning schlage ich das Rad“'' (a cartwheel for a penny). The Jan Wellem monument returned to Düsseldorf at the end of the Second World War. The procession was accompanied by torches, fanfares and cartwheeling boys.

=Cartwheelers in the cityscape

= Cartwheelers can be found at several fountains within the city and near many small landmarks. The most famous is Cartwheeler's Fountain in ''Burgplatz'' ( de) with an inscription of a quote by Hans Müller-Schlösser: "''Radschläger wolle mer blieve, wie jeck et de Minschen och drieve''" (We will always remain cartwheelers, however crazy it drives people.) The fountain was designed by Alfred Zschorsch in 1954 and donated by ''Heimatverein Düsseldorfer Jonges'', which is a club devoted to the maintenance of local and regional traditions. There are other cartwheelers that decorate storm drains and the

door knocker A door knocker is an item of door furniture that allows people outside a house or other dwelling or building to alert those inside to their presence. A door knocker has a part fixed to the door, and a part (usually metal) which is attached to t ...

on the Church of Lambertus, designed by Friedrich Becker. He created the cartwheeler in front of the Schadow Arcades. The tradition has been kept alive by the ''Alde Düsseldorfer Bürgergesellschaft von 1920 e. V.'', a society founded in 1920, which organized the first cartwheeler competition on 17 October 1937. This event has been held annually since 1971 in cooperation with the ''Stadtsparkasse'' (a local bank). Formerly held in the '' Königsallee'', it has taken place since 2006 on the ''Rheinwerft'', near the old part of town. This is a fixed date in the city’s calendar of events. About 500 boys regularly participate in the event and girls have also taken part since 1971. In an art project ''Radschläger-Kunst'' (Cartwheeler Art) launched in 2001, over 100 cartwheeler sculptures were designed by various artists. The door knocker on the Church of Lambertus served as a model for the sculptures that are high, wide and deep. They were positioned around the city centre. Some of the sculptures have been auctioned off to companies and private owners.

Christmas market

Every

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

, the city of Düsseldorf uses the city centre to host one of the largest Christmas gatherings in Germany. The Christmas festival occurs every year from 17 November until 23 December. This Christmas fest brings Düsseldorf a large portion of tourism every year as many people from nearby areas come to the city to drink

mulled wine Mulled wine, also known as spiced wine, is an alcoholic drink usually made with red wine, along with various mulling spices and sometimes raisins, served hot or warm. It is a traditional drink during winter, especially around Christmas. It is us ...

and hot chocolate and watch craftsman blow glass and create art. The event contains many small wooden buildings all clustered in the middle of the city for all the citizens to enjoy. The event, to many visitors, has an old European feel, but is very lively.

Cuisine

Traditional meals in the region are Rheinischer

Sauerbraten Sauerbraten is a traditional German roast of heavily marinated meat. It is regarded as a national dish of Germany, and is frequently served in German-style restaurants internationally. It can be prepared from a variety of meats, most often from ...

(a beef roast and sometimes horse marinated for a few days in vinegar and spices served with gravy and raisins) and Heaven and Earth (Himmel und Äd;

black pudding , type = , course = , place_of_origin = Great Britain and Ireland , region =England, Ireland, Scotland , associated_cuisine = United Kingdom and Ireland , creator = , year = , mintime = , maxtime = , served = Hot, occasionally ...

with stewed apples mixed with

mashed potato Mashed potato or mashed potatoes (American and Canadian English), colloquially known as mash (British English), is a dish made by mashing boiled or steamed potatoes, usually with added milk, butter, salt and pepper. It is generally served as a ...

es). In winter the people like to eat Muscheln Rheinischer Art (Rhenish-style mussels) as well as

Reibekuchen Reibekuchen () are German potato pancakes, also known as Kartoffelpuffer (). They are common in many areas of Germany, the name "Reibekuchen" being characteristic to the Rheinland area. Reibekuchen may be served with apple sauce, pumpernickel b ...

(fried potato pancake served with apple sauce). Also a special meal: Düsseldorfer Senfrostbraten (Steaks roasted with Düsseldorf mustard on top). Düsseldorf is known for its strong

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlie ...

-like

mustard Mustard may refer to: Food and plants * Mustard (condiment), a paste or sauce made from mustard seeds used as a condiment * Mustard plant, one of several plants, having seeds that are used for the condiment ** Mustard seed, seeds of the mustard p ...

served in a traditional pot called "Mostertpöttche", which was eternalised in a

still life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or man-made (drinking glasses, bo ...

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

in 1884. The Rhine Metropolis is one of the most diverse areas in terms of culinary diversity. Düsseldorf, with the third largest Japanese community in Europe, not only provides a wide range of culinary cuisine but also has a solid foundation of Authentic Asian food in the city. Düsseldorf's exceptional culinary cuisine has been recognized and visited by the Worldwide leading travel guide of Lonely Planet. Along with a broad range of diverse cultural cuisine, Düsseldorf is also home to various Michelin starred restaurants that are world renowned. Halve Hahn – this dish is made from a half a double rye roll, which is another of the specialties of Düsseldorf, buttered, with a thick slice of aged Gouda cheese, onions, mustard, ground paprika and sour pickles. Himmel un Aad – a dish of mashed potatoes and apples along with slices of blutwurst. Caramelized onions are usually served with this meal. Reibekuchen is another famous dish from Düsseldorf; this dish is usually drizzled with Rübensyrup (beet syrup) and is served on pumpernickel slices along with applesauce.

Literature

The ''

Förderpreis für Literatur der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf The Förderpreis für Literatur der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf is a German literary award donated by the City of Düsseldorf in North Rhine-Westphalia. The Prize for Literature in support of the City of Düsseldorf has been awarded since 1972 by ...

'' is a German

Literary award A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award ceremony. M ...

donated by the City of Düsseldorf in

Northrhine-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 inhab ...

. The Prize for Literature in support of the City of Düsseldorf is awarded since 1972 by the Council of the City due to the decisions of the courts. The ''Förderpreis für Literatur der Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf'' is given once a year to artists and groups, especially to the areas of poetry, writing, review and translation.

Rivalry with Cologne

Düsseldorf and

have had a "fierce regional rivalry". The rivalry includes

carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival t ...

parades,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

and

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

. People in Cologne prefer Kölsch while people in Düsseldorf prefer

. Some Waiters and patrons will "scorn" and make a "mockery" of people who order Alt beer in Cologne and Kölsch in Düsseldorf. The rivalry has been described as a "love-hate relationship".

Theatres

* Apollo (varieté, circus; shows do not require knowledge of

German language German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is also a ...

) *

Capitol A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity. Specific capitols include: * United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. * Numerous ...

(musicals) *

(Opera; Ballet) *

; the theatre started with theatrical performances in 1585 * Düsseldorfer Marionetten-Theater * Merkur Spiel-Arena (Venue of the

Eurovision Song Contest 2011 The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, following the country's victory at the with the song " Satellite" by Lena. Organised by the European Broadcasting U ...

) *

FFT A fast Fourier transform (FFT) is an algorithm that computes the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) of a sequence, or its inverse (IDFT). Fourier analysis converts a signal from its original domain (often time or space) to a representation in the ...

– Forum Freies Theater (intimate theatre) * Junges Theater in der Altstadt * Klangraum (20th-century classical music) * Kom(m)ödchen (Political cabaret) * Komödie Düsseldorf * Palais Wittgenstein * Puppentheater an der Helmholtzstraße (puppetry) * Robert-Schumann-Saal * Savoy-Theater * Seniorentheater in der Altstadt * Tanzhaus NRW (theatre for dance) *

Tonhalle Düsseldorf Tonhalle Düsseldorf is a concert hall in Düsseldorf. It was built by the architect Wilhelm Kreis. The resident orchestra, the ''Düsseldorfer Symphoniker'', play symphonic repertoire at the Tonhalle as well as opera at the Deutsche Oper am Rhei ...

(

concert hall A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention centres that ma ...

for

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" al ...

, jazz, pop, cabaret) * Theater an der Kö * Theater an der Luegallee * Theateratelier Takelgarn * Theater Flin * Theater Glorreich

Museums, arts and history institutes, and other attractions

* Akademie-Galerie (exhibition space of the Art Academy Düsseldorf) * Andreaskirche * Aquazoo-Löbbecke-Museum (aquarium and zoological museum) * TvTower * BRAUSE – Vereinsheim des Metzgerei Schnitzel Kunstvereins e.V. * Film museum * Filmstiftung NRW (NRW Film Foundation) *

Forum NRW The NRW Forum Wirtschaft und Kultur (Forum NRW), formerly the Museum für Industrie und Wirtschaft, is a museum in Düsseldorf, the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, dealing with the development and the economy of the state of North Rhine ...

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tr ...

-Museum * Heinrich-Heine-Institut * Heinrich Heine Birth-house * Hetjens Museum (German museum of ceramics) * Imai – inter media art institute * Institut Français Düsseldorf * Institut für Kunstdokumentation und Szenografie (Institute for Art Documentation and Scenography) * Julia Stoschek Collection (video art) * KAI 10, Raum für Kunst * Kulturbahnhof Eller * Kunstarchiv Kaiserswerth (works of

Bernd and Hilla Becher Bernhard "Bernd" Becher (; 20 August 1931 – 22 June 2007), and Hilla Becher, née Wobeser (2 September 1934 – 10 October 2015), were German conceptual artists and photographers working as a collaborative duo. They are best known for their e ...

/Kahmen Collection) *

Kunst im Tunnel Kunst im Tunnel or KIT is a contemporary art museum in Düsseldorf. It is the new exhibition space of Kunsthalle Düsseldorf Kunsthalle Düsseldorf is an exhibition hall for contemporary art in Düsseldorf. Building The present art centre was ...

(KIT) *

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 ...

(Art Collection Northrhine-Westphalia) – K20 (Grabbeplatz) and K21 (Ständehaus) *

Kunsthalle Düsseldorf Kunsthalle Düsseldorf is an exhibition hall for contemporary art in Düsseldorf. Building The present art centre was built in 1967 in Brutalist architecture by the architects Konrad Beckmann and Brockes. They used commercially available preca ...

* Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen (Society for the Promotion of the Fine Arts) *

Museum Kunstpalast The Kunstpalast, formerly Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf is an art museum in Düsseldorf. History The roots of the museum go back around 300 years. In 1932, the collection of the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf (Academy of Art) was housed in the Kunstmus ...

* Mahn- und Gedenkstätte für die Opfer des Nationalsozialmus (Memorial museum for victims of Nationalsocialism) * Onomato * Polnisches Institut Düsseldorf * Puppentheater an der Helmholtzstraße * Rathaus * Reinraum e.V. – Verein zur Förderung von Kunst und Kultur *

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 ...

(Rhine Tower; highest building and landmark of Düsseldorf) * * Schiffahrt Museum * Schloss Jägerhof * Schlossturm * Schloss und Park Benrath (Palace and park of Benrath) * Stadtbibliothek * Stadtmuseum (City history museum) * Statue of Jan Wellem * Theatermuseum, Düsseldorf * Triton Museum * Volkshochschule * Zakk – cultural centre with concerts, readings, debates and party Koenigsallee 2019 -WPWP

Parks and gardens

* Botanischer Garten Düsseldorf, a modern botanical garden * Hofgarten * The Nordpark, with the Aquazoo * The Südfriedhof (The South Cemetery)
Volksgarten adjacent to Südpark

Sports and live events

File:ISS Dome Düsseldorf Straßensicht.jpg, The ISS-Dome, an

stadium, opened in 2006 File:LTU-Arena Düsseldorf.jpg, The Merkur Spiel-Arena (formerly LTU Arena) File:Eurovisions-Arena bei Nacht P5143553.JPG, Logo during Eurovision Song Contest 2011 ESC File:Rennbahn P4173040.JPG, Racecourse, general view from the east File:Neue Tribüne der Galopprennbahn Düsseldorf.JPG, Main Tribune of the Racecourse for horses/Galopprennbahn Düsseldorf Düsseldorf's main

team Fortuna Düsseldorf won the 1933 German championship, the German Cup in 1979 and 1980, and were finalists in the European Cup Winners Cup in 1979. They currently play in the 2. Bundesliga, after being relegated from the Bundesliga in 2020. They play their matches in the Merkur Spiel-Arena (formerly known as the 'ESPIRIT arena'), a multi-functional stadium with a capacity of 54,500. Düsseldorf was one of nine host cities for the 1974 FIFA World Cup, and the Rochusclub Düsseldorf has hosted the tennis World Team Cup from 1978 till 2012. Düsseldorf also held the List of Tour de France Grands Départs, Grand Départ for the 2017 Tour de France, Tour de France in July 2017. Other sports in Düsseldorf are

(the Düsseldorfer EG which play in the new ISS-Dome) and American football. The Düsseldorf Panther are one of the most successful teams in Germany with six German Bowl titles and the Eurobowl victory in 1995. In addition the Junior-Team is the most successful youth department in Germany with fifteen German Junior Bowl, Junior Bowl victories. Rhein Fire (NFL Europe), Rhine Fire Düsseldorf was an established team of the NFL Europa, NFL Europe and won the World Bowl two times in 1998 and 2000. Düsseldorf has a successful rugby union team (Düsseldorf Dragons), who as of 2017/18 play in the western division of the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German rugby. Table tennis is also played (Borussia Düsseldorf – the most successful team in Germany with Timo Boll), as are team handball, handball (HSG Düsseldorf), basketball (Gloria Giants Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Giants), baseball (Düsseldorf Senators) and dance, dancing (Rot-Weiß Düsseldorf). Düsseldorf also has a Cricket team, the Düsseldorf Blackcaps, who play in the regional NRW league. The city hosted the

Education

University of Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf is located in the southern part of the city. It has about 30,000 students and a wide range of subjects in natural sciences, mathematics, computer sciences, philosophy, social sciences, arts, languages, medicine, pharmacy, economy and the law. Other academic institutions include * the Clara Schumann Musikschule (music school) * the Robert Schumann Hochschule * the

(Academy of Fine art, Fine Arts) which is famous for high-profile artists like Joseph Beuys, Paul Klee, Nam June Paik, Gerhard Richter, the Bechers, and Andreas Gursky * the

(University of Applied science, Applied Sciences) * the AMD Academy of Fashion and Design * the Max Planck Institute for Iron Research GmbH, Max Planck Institute for Iron Research * the Goethe-Institut, Goethe Institute * Verwaltungs- und Wirtschafts-Akademie Düsseldorf * WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management (Düsseldorf Campus) International primary and secondary schools: *International School of Düsseldorf *Lycée français de Düsseldorf *Japanische Internationale Schule in Düsseldorf

Notable buildings

(TV tower) the city's landmark (1982: , since 2004: ), the lights of which comprise the world's largest digital clock. *The Frank Gehry, Gehry buildings in the Düsseldorf media harbour (see picture above). *The Colorium, an 18-storey tower designed by Alsop and Partners, also in the Düsseldorf media harbour. *The Schloss Benrath, Benrather Schloss (Benrath palace). * The Grupello-Haus probably designed by the Italian architect in 1706 for Duke Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine, Johann Wilhelm. *The Wilhelm Marx House of 1922/24: at twelve storeys high, it was Germany's first Skyscraper, high-rise building. *The Stahlhof of 1906, the administrative centre of Germany's steel economy until 1945. *The Stummhaus of 1925, another early German high-rise building. *Düsseldorf-Gerresheim, Gerresheim Basilica. *. *Hotel Römischer Kaiser, built in 1903-04 *DRV Tower, tower constructed in 1978. *GAP 15, an building constructed in 2005 near Königsallee. *ARAG-Tower, at in height, it is Düsseldorf's highest office, office building; designed by Sir Norman Foster. *Eight bridges span the Rhine at Düsseldorf; they, too, are city landmarks. *Eastern pylon of Reisholz Rhine Powerline Crossing, an electricity pylon under whose legs runs a rail. * Johanneskirche, Düsseldorf

Notable places

Königsallee, a shopping street with luxuries shops *Schloss Benrath, rococo castle *Altstadt (Düsseldorf), literally "old town", the historic town centre with the town hall ''Altes Rathaus'' from 1573. Nowadays Düsseldorf's entertainment district with hundreds of pubs and restaurants, and proverbially known by Germans as "the longest bar in the world". *Düsseldorf-Hafen, the harbour is a modern build district *Kaiserswerth, historical district with the ruined castle of Barbarossa Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor *Schloss Heltorf, the biggest palace in Düsseldorf, since 1662 homestead of the noble family ''Grafen von Spee'' *Hofgarten, Düsseldorf, Hofgarten, old city park *Schloss Jägerhof, an old hunting lodge at the Hofgarten, today a Goethe Museum

Twin towns – sister cities

Düsseldorf is Sister city, twinned with: * Reading, Berkshire, Reading, England, UK (1988) * Chemnitz, Germany (1988) * Haifa, Israel (1988) * Warsaw, Poland (1989) * Chongqing, China (2004) * Palermo, Italy (2016) * Chiba Prefecture, Japan (2019) * Chernivtsi, Ukraine (2022) * Moscow, Russia (1992) Suspended due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

Friendship and cooperation

Düsseldorf also cooperates with: * Toulouse, France (2003) * Tenerife, Spain (2003) * Shenyang, China (2004) * Guangzhou, China (2006) * Montreal, Canada (2015)

Notable people

Born before 1850

*Anne Of Cleves (1515–1557), Married to Henry VIII *François-Charles de Velbrück (1719–1784), Prince-Bishop of Liège *Helena Curtens (1722–1738), last victim of the witch trials in the Lower Rhine *Johann Georg Jacobi (1740–1814), writer *Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (1743–1819), philosopher and writer *Peter von Cornelius (1783–1867), painter *

(1797–1856), poet and writer *Lorenz Clasen (1812–1899), painter *Wilhelm Camphausen (1818–1885), painter *Louise Strantz (1823–1909), composer and singer *Paul von Hatzfeldt (1831–1901), diplomat *Anton Josef Reiss (1835–1900), sculptor *Eugen Richter (1838–1906), politician and publicist *Arnold Forstmann (1842–1914), landscape painter *Peter Janssen (1844–1908), painter, professor at the Art Academy *Karl Rudolf Sohn (1845–1908), painter *Felix Klein (1849–1925), mathematician

Born 1851–1900

Georg Wenker Georg Wenker (1852-1911) (Alter Fritz)

*Georg Wenker (1852–1911), linguist, founder of linguistic atlas of the German Reich (Wenkeratlas) *Karl Janssen (1855–1927), sculptor, professor at the Art Academy *Leopold Graf von Kalckreuth (1855–1928), painter *Maria Countess von Kalckreuth (1857–1897), painter *Fritz Reiss (1857–1915), lithographer, illustrator, graphic artist and painter *Bruno Schmitz (1858–1916), architect *Otto Hupp (1859–1949), signature graphic artist, engraver *Albert Herzfeld (1865–1943), painter and author *Agnes Elisabeth Overbeck (1870–1919), composer and pianist *Hanns Heinz Ewers (1871–1943), writer and filmmaker *Wilhelm Levison (1876–1947), historian *Elly Ney (1882–1968), world-famous concert pianist *Carl Maria Weber (1890–1953), writer *Willy Reetz (1892–1963), painter, "Düsseldorf School" *Hermann Knüfken (1893–1976), marine soldier, revolutionary, union activist, resistance fighter and secret agent *Ludwig Gehre (1895–1945), officer and resistance fighter *Hans Globke (1898–1973), jurist, National Socialist, from 1949 Assistant Secretary, then Secretary of State in the Federal Chancellery (1953–1963) *Karl von Appen (1900–1981), stage designer

Born after 1900

Filmregisseur Helmut Kautne in Nederland, Bestanddeelnr 910-9501

*Max Lorenz (tenor), Max Lorenz (1901–1975), tenor *Toni Ulmen (1906–1976), motorcycle and car race driver *Karl Pschigode (1907–1971), actor and theatre director *Helmut Käutner (1908–1980), film director and actor *Hilarius Gilges (1909–1933), Afro-German actor, victim of Nazism *Ernst Klusen (1909–1988), musicologist *Luise Rainer (1910–2014), actress *Ursula Benser (1915–2001), painter *Fred Beckey (1923–2017), rock climber, mountaineer, author *Jürgen Habermas (born 1929), philosopher and sociologist *Carl-Ludwig Wagner (1930–2012), politician (CDU) *Wim Wenders (born 1945), filmmaker, playwright, author *Carmen Thomas (born 1946), journalist, radio and television presenter, author and lecturer *Marius Müller-Westernhagen (born 1948), actor and musician *Heiner Koch (born 1954), Roman Catholic bishop *

(born 1955), photographer *Bettina Böttinger (born 1956), TV-presenter *Birgitt Bender (born 1956), politician (The Greens), Member of Landtag and Bundestag *Tommi Stumpff (born 1958), musician *Bettina Hoffmann (musician), Bettina Hoffmann (born 1959), musician and musicologist *Andreas Frege (born 1962), "Campino", singer in the band Die Toten Hosen *René Obermann (born 1963), manager, husband of Maybrit Illner *

(born 1964), heavy metal musician *Jörg Schmadtke (born 1964), football manager *André Olbrich (born 1967), guitarist in the band Blind Guardian *Michael Preetz (born 1967), footballer *Svenja Schulze (born 1968), politician (SPD) *Heike Makatsch (born 1971), actress and singer *Tetsuya Kakihara (born 1982), voice actor and singer *Erika Ikuta (born 1997), Japanese actress, a former member of Nogizaka46

Associated with Düsseldorf

*William Thomas Mulvany (1806–1885 in Düsseldorf), entrepreneur *

(1810–1856), composer, 1850–1854 urban music director in Düsseldorf *Alfred Rethel (1816–1859 in Düsseldorf), history painter *Christian Eduard Boettcher (1818–1889), painter who lived, worked and died in Düsseldorf *Clara Schumann (1819–1896), pianist and composer, wife of Robert Schumann, frequent host of Johannes Brahms in Düsseldorf (1850–1854) *

(1824–1868), painter, Düsseldorf School *Louise Dumont (1862–1932 in Düsseldorf), actress and 1904 founder of the ''Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf'' *Johanna Ey, Johanna "Mother" Ey (1864–1947 in Düsseldorf), gallery owner *Peter Behrens (1868–1940), architect and director of the Düsseldorf Art Academy *Wilhelm Kreis (1873–1955), architect and director of the School of Applied Arts Düsseldorf *Peter Kürten (1883–1931), called "The Vampire of Düsseldorf", committed in Düsseldorf during the period between February and November 1929 series of sexual homicide *Adolf Uzarski (1885–1970 in Düsseldorf), writer, painter and graphic artist *Emil Fahrenkamp (1885–1966), architect and director of Düsseldorf Art Academy 1937–1945 *Betty Knox (1906–1963), dancer with variety act Wilson, Keppel and Betty and war correspondent lived in the city during her later years and died there. *Ernest Martin (theatre director and manager), Ernest Martin (born 1932), theatre director, theatre manager and actor in Düsseldorf

History

Early development

World War I

Weimar Republic

World War II

German Federal Republic

Geography

Physical geography

Adjacent cities and districts

Climate

Demographics

Government

Boroughs

Mayor

City council

Economy

Financial center

Media

Transport

Düsseldorf Airport

Railway

Taxi

Carsharing

Autobahn

Cycling

Culture and recreation

Beer

Music and nightlife

Fashion

Carnival

Düsseldorf's cartwheeler

Legends of its origin and history

=Cartwheelers in the cityscape

Christmas market

Cuisine

Literature

Rivalry with Cologne

Theatres

Museums, arts and history institutes, and other attractions

Parks and gardens

Sports and live events

Education

Notable buildings

Notable places

Twin towns – sister cities

Friendship and cooperation

Notable people

Born before 1850

Born 1851–1900

Born after 1900

Associated with Düsseldorf

See also

References

Bibliography

External links