Vreden is a small town 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 betwee ...

near the Dutch border. The town is located near the river

Berkel The Berkel () is a river in the Netherlands and Germany. It is a right tributary of the IJssel. The river rises in Billerbeck, near the German city of Münster in North Rhine-Westphalia, and crosses the border with the Netherlands near Vr ...

. The first mentioning of the town is proven for the year 839. In 1252 Vreden obtained

city rights 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 ...

Demographics

Religion

* 90%

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

* 10% other

Culture and sights

Museums

* Hamaland-Museum ** Farmer-Museum * Silhouette Museum * Miniature Shoe Museum * Skulpturenpark Erning * Heimathaus Noldes * Berkelkraftwerk * Biologische Station Zwillbrock

Buildings

* Former castle * Old townhall * Foundations of seven older churches under the current day St. Georg church * Baroque church in Zwillbrock * Stiftskirche (collegiate church of the former noble convent of Vreden)

Parks

*The "Zwillbrocker Venn": The Zwillbrocker Venn, approximately 10 km east of the city centre is part of a large nature reserve with numerous water areas. The Venn is home of Europe's largest

black-headed gull The black-headed gull (''Chroicocephalus ridibundus'') is a small gull that breeds in much of the Palearctic including Europe and also in coastal eastern Canada. Most of the population is migratory and winters further south, but some birds ...

breeding area and the world's northernmost

flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbea ...

breeding site. *Vreden City Park: Includes the town's Farmer Museum.

Gallery

File:Vreden, die Pfarrkirche Sankt Georg foto1 D6 2012-04-30 16.30.JPG, Vreden, church: die Pfarrkirche Sankt Georg File:Vreden, die Stifftkirche Felicitas D4 foto1 2012-04-30 16.35.jpg, Vreden, church: die Stifftkirche Felicitas File:Vreden, fontein op de Markt foto5 2015-08-22 14.04.jpg, Vreden, view to the Markt File:Vreden, beeldhouwwerk bij loopbrug over de Berkel foto10 2015-08-22 14.26.jpg, Vreden, sculpture near the Berkel

Coat of arms

In the 13th century, Vreden was enlarged to a city by the

archbishop of Cologne The Archbishop of Cologne is an archbishop governing the Archdiocese of Cologne of the Catholic Church in western North Rhine-Westphalia and is also a historical state in the Rhine holding the birthplace of Beethoven and northern Rhineland-Palat ...

and the

bishop of Münster A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

, who were the city owners of that time. The Coat-of-Arms shows Petrus (patron of

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

) and Paulus (patron of

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state di ...

) with a key and a sword behind the cross of Cologne and the bar of Münster.

People from Vreden

Johannes Röring Johannes August Röring (born 16 May 1959) is a German politician. Born in Vreden, North Rhine-Westphalia, he represents the CDU. Johannes Röring has served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2005. Li ...

(born 1959), German politician *

Stefan Decker Stefan Decker is a computer scientist, Full Professor for Database and Information Systems at RWTH Aachen University, and managing director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology. He specializes in the Semantic Web. As ...

, computer scientist

References

Towns in North Rhine-Westphalia Members of the Hanseatic League Borken (district) {{Borken-geo-stub