Kalkar ( is a municipality in the district of Kleve, in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It is located near the

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

, approx. 10 km south-east of

Cleves Kleve (; traditional en, Cleves ; nl, Kleef; french: Clèves; es, Cléveris; la, Clivia; Low Rhenish: ''Kleff'') is a town in the Lower Rhine region of northwestern Germany near the Dutch border and the River Rhine. From the 11th century ...

. The catholic church St. Nicolai has preserved one of the most significant sacral inventories from the late Middle Ages in Germany.

History

Kalkar was founded by Dirk VI of

in 1230 and received city rights in 1242. It was one of the seven "capitals" of Cleves (called Kleve), until the line of the

Duchy of Cleves The Duchy of Cleves (german: Herzogtum Kleve; nl, Hertogdom Kleef) was a State of the Holy Roman Empire which emerged from the medieval . It was situated in the northern Rhineland on both sides of the Lower Rhine, around its capital Cleves and ...

died out in 1609, whereupon the city went over to the

Margraviate of Brandenburg The Margraviate of Brandenburg (german: link=no, Markgrafschaft Brandenburg) was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that played a pivotal role in the history of Germany and Central Europe. Brandenburg developed out ...

. Marie of Burgundy, Duchess of Cleves retired to Monreberg castle in Kalkar, where she founded a Dominican convent in 1455. Under her influence the city bloomed and artists were attracted to the favorable climate for cultural investment. She died at Monreberg castle in 1463.

Air base

The

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

470TH Air Base Squadron supports the NATO Joint Air Power Competence Center (JAPCC) in Kalkar and the

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

CAOC in Uedem. The 470th is not located in Kalkar however.

Nuclear reactor

Between 1957 and 1991, West Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands pursued an ambitious plan for a fast breeder nuclear reactor, the a prototype reactor, SNR-300, near Kalkar. Construction of the SNR-300 began in April 1973. In the wake of large anti-nuclear protests at

Wyhl Wyhl () is a municipality in the district of Emmendingen in Baden-Württemberg in southwestern Germany. It is known in the 1970s for its role in the anti-nuclear movement. Wyhl was first mentioned in 1971 as a possible site for a nuclear power st ...

and

Brokdorf Brokdorf is a municipality in the district of Steinburg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is located on the bank of the Elbe river, approx. 20 km east before the river flows into the North Sea. As of December 2019, the total population ...

, demonstrations against the SNR-300 reactor escalated in the mid-1970s. A large demonstration in September 1977 involved a "massive police operation that included the complete closure of autobahns in northern Germany and identity checks of almost 150,000 people". Construction of the Kalkar reactor was completed in the middle of 1985, but a new state government was clearly against the project, and opposition mounted following the Chernobyl disaster in April 1986. In March 1991, the German federal government said that the SNR-300 would not be put into operation; the project costs, originally estimated at $150 to $200 million, escalated to a final cost of about $4 billion (equivalent to about $B in ). The

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat fr ...

plant has since been turned into Kern-Wasser Wunderland, an amusement park with a rollercoaster and several other rides and restaurants.

Novel

In the science fiction novel " The Moon Maid", Edgar Rice Burroughs used "Kalkars" as the name for a malevolent fictional race living on the Moon and later invading Earth.

Gallery

Kalkar - Kalkarer Mühle 05 ies.jpg, Windmill of Kalkar Kalkar Hanselaerstraße 30 PM16.jpg, Gothic gable in Kalkar Kalkar 12 ies.jpg, Museum Kalkar Kalkar Kesselstraße 9 Evangelische Kirche PM18-03.jpg, Evangelic church

References

{{Authority control Populated places on the Rhine Anti–nuclear power movement Anti-nuclear movement in Germany Kleve (district)