Düren (; Ripuarian: Düre) is a town in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, between

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

and

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, on the river Rur.

History

Roman era

The area of Düren was part of

Gallia Belgica Gallia Belgica ("Belgic Gaul") was a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire located in the north-eastern part of Roman Gaul, in what is today primarily northern France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, along with parts of the Netherlands and German ...

, more specifically the territory of the Eburones, a people who were described as both

Belgae The Belgae ( , ) were a large confederation of tribes living in northern Gaul, between the English Channel, the west bank of the Rhine, and the northern bank of the river Seine, from at least the third century BC. They were discussed in depth b ...

and

Germani The Germanic peoples were tribal groups who lived in Northern Europe in Classical antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. In modern scholarship, they typically include not only the Roman-era ''Germani'' who lived in both ''Germania'' and parts of ...

. It was conquered by the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

under

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

and became part of

Germania inferior ''Germania Inferior'' ("Lower Germania") was a Roman province from AD 85 until the province was renamed ''Germania Secunda'' in the 4th century AD, on the west bank of the Rhine bordering the North Sea. The capital of the province was Colonia Cl ...

. Düren became a supply area for the rapidly growing Roman city of

(Roman name Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium). Furthermore, a few important Roman roads skirt Düren (including the road from

to Jülich and

Tongeren Tongeren (; ; ; ) is a city and former municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg, in the southeastern corner of the Flemish region of Belgium. Tongeren is the oldest town in Belgium, as the only Roman administrative capital wit ...

and the road from Cologne to Zülpich and

Trier Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...

). By the 4th century, the area was settled by the

Ripuarian Franks The Rhineland or Ripuarian Franks, also often referred to using the Latin plurals ''Ribuarii'', or ''Ripuarii'', were the Franks who established themselves in and around the formerly Roman city of Cologne, on the Rhine river in what is now Germa ...

. The name ''villa duria'' occurred the first time in the Frankish Annals in the year 747. Frankish king Pippin the Short often visited Düren in the 8th century and held a few important conventions there. The Franks made of Düren a royal palace, from which the name

Palatine A palatine or palatinus (Latin; : ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman Empire, Roman times.

(

Pfalz Pfalz, Pfälzer, or Pfälzisch are German words referring to Palatinate (disambiguation), Palatinate. They may refer to: Places *Pfalz, the Palatinate (region) of Germany **Nordpfalz, the North Palatinate **Vorderpfalz, the Anterior Palatinat ...

in German) is derived.

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

sojourned a few times there. Due to the frequent visits of Charlemagne, a few markets sprang up, such as the corn, cattle, wood, chicken, and butter markets, all of which contributed to Düren's development. The castle was built at the place where, since 1991, the

Saint Anne According to apocrypha, as well as Christianity, Christian and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary, the wife of Joachim and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the Bible's Gosp ...

Church is located.

Middle Ages

Düren obtained city rights in the early 13th century. Around 1200, the construction of the city wall was started, which includes 12 towers and 5 gates. The gates faced all directions: in the north, the ''Philippstor'' and the ''Wirteltor'', in the east the ''Kölntor'' (Cologne gate), in the south the ''Obertor'' and in the west the ''Holztor'' (wooden gate). There are still ruins of the gates today. The chiseler Leonhard stole a small box with the relic of

out of the Mainzer Stiftskirche St. Stephan in 1501 and brought it to Düren.

Pope Julius II Pope Julius II (; ; born Giuliano della Rovere; 5 December 144321 February 1513) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1503 to his death, in February 1513. Nicknamed the Warrior Pope, the Battle Pope or the Fearsome ...

decided on March 18, 1506, that Düren could keep the remains. They were kept in the ''Martinskirche'' (church of Saint Martin) which was renamed the ''Annakirche'' (church of

) in 1505. (Probably the church was renamed much later, because in the 19th century it was still called sometimes parish church of the holy Martinus). Saint Anne became the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...

of Düren. Every year, the saint's day of Saint Anne (July 26) is celebrated for one week with the Anna octavos and the Anna parish fair, one of the biggest folk festivals of

17th to 19th century

In 1642, Düren was embroiled in the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

. Opposing troops destroyed the city. After the war has finally ended in 1648, plague broke out and caused many lives to be lost. A second plague epidemic broke out in 1665. Due to the various attacks on the debilitated city, Düren was destroyed again in 1679. In this time, the settlement Miesheim was destroyed, never to be rebuilt. Towards the end of the year 1755 in the area around Düren and

began a series of

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

s, which reached its peak on February 18, 1756 with an earthquake with the strength 8 on the Mercalli scale. The series of earthquakes affected all of Europe, most famously the

1755 Lisbon earthquake The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon earthquake, impacted Portugal, the Iberian Peninsula, and Northwest Africa on the morning of Saturday, 1 November, All Saints' Day, Feast of All Saints, at around 09:40 local time. In ...

. The businesses in the area of Düren was affected since the 15th century by the drapery and metal industry. Since the beginning of the 17th century, paper industry had settled here, advantaged by the exceptionally

soft water Hard water is water that has a high mineral content (in contrast with "soft water"). Hard water is formed when water percolates through deposits of limestone, chalk or gypsum, which are largely made up of calcium and magnesium carbonates, ...

of the Rur. Rütger von Scheven built the first

paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt ...

in Düren. In 1812, there were already 17 paper factories, 11 cloth- and blanket factories, an iron rolling mill or

slitting mill Slitting Mill is a small village on the outskirts of Rugeley, Staffordshire. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 265. The village is within Rugeley civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish use ...

and two iron foundries. In the year 1794, Düren was occupied by French revolutionary troops. From 1798 until 1814, Düren was the main city of the same named canton in the arrondissement

of the French ''Roerdepartements'' (from the name of the River Rur (Roer) and ''département''). After the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

in 1815, Düren was ceded to the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

and was subsequently administered within the

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

20th century

By 1900, Düren was among Germany's richest cities (with 42 millionaires and 93 factories) and had a population of 27,168. By comparison, fewer than 5,000 people had lived in Düren a century earlier. The city of Düren was located on the main fighting front during the Allied invasion of Germany in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. During 1944 and 1945, the protracted and bloody Battle for Hürtgenwald was fought on Düren's district area, and on November 16, 1944, Düren was completely destroyed by Allied air bombings. Approximately 22,000 people lived in Düren at that time, and 3,000 of them died during the bombing. Those who survived were evacuated to central Germany. Destroyed buildings included the Stadttheater Düren (1907), designed in

Jugendstil (; "Youth Style") was an artistic movement, particularly in the decorative arts, that was influential primarily in Germany, Austria and elsewhere in Europe to a lesser extent from about 1895 until about 1910. It was the German and Austrian cou ...

by Carl Moritz. By 1939, the population had risen to over 45,000, but then fell to just 3,806 by June 1945 due to the effects of World War II. After the bombing of November 16, 1944, on March 1, 1945, only four German residents lived in the city, including forced laborers etc. there were 21 people. On April 1, the number of inhabitants had risen to 180 and on May 1, 1945, there were already 1,218 people. In December 1945 the number increased to 25,000 inhabitants and in 1958 it was 45,000, the same number as before the war. Due to the incorporation of several places in the area, the city's population grew on January 1, 1972, by 35,522 to 89,087. On February 25, 1945,

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

troops crossed the Rur at Düren. After the war was over in the summer that year, many evacuated people came back to the destroyed city and started to rebuild their homes against the advice of the American troops. By June 1945, the population had risen to 3,806. Most of the architecture in Düren therefore dates from the 1950s.

Culture and points of interest

The most famous museum of Düren is the Leopold Hoesch Museum. The Baroque Revival style building erected in 1905 presents changing exhibitions of contemporary art. Since 1986, it also displays artworks from the international Biennale PaperArt. Since 2006, the former nurses' home of the St. Augustinus Hospital Lendersdorf has housed the Düren Carnival Museum. The most recent museum is the Stadtmuseum Düren local history museum, founded in 2009.

Theatre and music

The former Stadttheater Düren was opened in January 1907. In the bombing of November 16, 1944, the theatre was almost completely destroyed. Today cultural performances take place mainly at the ''Haus der Stadt''. Since 2004 the multi-functional ''Arena Kreis Düren'', which has around 2000 seats, serves as a venue for major concerts. The jazz festival Dürener Jazztage is hosted in Düren annually.

Buildings

At the edge of the forest in the Niederau district lies Burgau Castle. The

water castle A water castle, sometimes water-castle, is a castle which incorporates a natural or artificial body of water into its defences.Forde-Johnston (1979), p. 163. It can be entirely surrounded by water-filled moats (moated castle) or natural waterbo ...

ways inhabited by the Counts of Heinsberg at the beginning of the 14th Century. After it was destroyed in 1944, the restoration process lasted from 1979 to 1998. In Theodor Heuss Park is the Bismarck Memorial, erected in 1892 to commemorate the most famous honorary citizen from Düren. The town hall was inaugurated in 1959. It now ranks as an example of 1950s architecture under

Cultural heritage management Cultural heritage management (CHM) is the vocation and practice of managing cultural heritage. Ann Marie Sullivan, Cultural Heritage & New Media: A Future for the Past, 15 J. MARSHALL REV. INTELL. PROP. L. 604 (2016) https://repository.jmls.edu/cg ...

Politics

The current mayor of Düren is Frank Peter Ullrich of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(SPD) since 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, Frank Peter Ullrich , align=left,

, 10,641 , 36.1 , 14,853 , 69.8 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Thomas Floßdorf , align=left, Christian Democratic Union , 7,877 , 26.7 , 6,435 , 30.2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Maria Belka , align=left,

Alliance 90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (, ), often simply referred to as Greens (, ), is a Green (politics), green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of the Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (formed in East Ger ...

, 6,724 , 22.8 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Siegfried Fahl , 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 Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

, 2,166 , 7.3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Karl Cremer , align=left, Free Democratic Party , 2,113 , 7.2 , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 29,521 ! 97.2 ! 21,288 ! 98.3 , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 837 ! 2.8 ! 364 ! 1.7 , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 30,358 ! 100.0 ! 21,652 ! 100.0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 69,324 ! 43.8 ! 69,257 ! 31.3 , - , colspan=7, Source: City of Düren
1st round

City council

The Düren city council governs the city alongside the Mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows: ! colspan=2, Party ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , 9,896 , 33.3 , 7.7 , 17 , 3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(SPD) , 8,555 , 28.8 , 3.7 , 15 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(Grüne) , 5,317 , 17.9 , 8.1 , 9 , 4 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

Alternative for Germany Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...

(AfD) , 2,111 , 7.1 , 1.6 , 4 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Democratic Party (FDP) , 1,338 , 4.5 , 1.2 , 2 , ±0 , - , , align=left, Citizens for Düren (BfD) , 943 , 3.2 , 1.1 , 2 , 1 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, The Left (Die Linke) , 844 , 2.8 , 2.5 , 1 , 2 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Pirate Party Germany (Piraten) , 396 , 1.3 , New , 1 , New , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Independent Harf , 329 , 1.1 , New , 1 , New , - ! colspan=2, Valid votes ! 29,729 ! 98.1 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Invalid votes ! 581 ! 1.9 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Total ! 30,310 ! 100.0 ! ! 52 ! 2 , - ! colspan=2, Electorate/voter turnout ! 69,324 ! 43.7 ! 1.7 ! ! , - , colspan=7, Source
City of Düren

Religion

*The most important church in the city is the Annakirche. The church was completely destroyed by bombing in 1944 and rebuilt in the 1950s under the guidance of the architect Rudolf Schwarz. Throughout the city there are 15 other Catholic parish and church communities, including in Arnoldsweiler. * The most important Protestant church in Düren is the Christuskirche. At its inauguration in 1954, it possessed the highest freestanding

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

in Germany. * Up to the destruction of

Kristallnacht ( ) or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilia ...

, the

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

was located in Schützenstraße. In its place is now a stele from Düren artist Rückriem.

Main sights

*'' Burgau Castle'' (German: Schloss Burgau) *''Dicker Turm'' ("Fat Tower"), a remain of the old city's fortifications *''Annakirche'' (St. Anne Church) *''Marienkirche'' (St. Mary Magdalene Church) *Monument to Bismarck *Leopold Hoesch Museum

Emblem

The emblem of the city of Düren is divided. It shows on the top a red castle, below that, a black eagle and in the lower half a black lion with a red tongue. The black eagle refers to the old history of Düren as a royal city and Reichsstadt. In 1242–46 Düren was bonded to the dukes of Jülich (later,

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

was also Duke of Jülich). Their emblem was a lion passant, with open mouth and a red tongue.

Twin towns – sister cities

Düren is twinned with: * Altmünster, Austria * Cormeilles, France * Gradačac, Bosnia and Herzegovina *

Jinhua Jinhua is a prefecture-level city in central Zhejiang province in eastern China. It borders the provincial capital of Hangzhou to the northwest, Quzhou to the southwest, Lishui to the south, Taizhou, Zhejiang, Taizhou to the east, and Shaoxin ...

, China *

Karadeniz Ereğli Karadeniz Ereğli (or Ereğli) is a city in Zonguldak Province of Turkey on the Black Sea shore. It is the seat of Ereğli District.

, Turkey *

Stryi Stryi (, ; ) is a city in Lviv Oblast, western Ukraine. It is located in the left bank of the Stryi (river), Stryi River, approximately south of Lviv in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. It serves as the administrative center of Stryi R ...

, Ukraine *

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...

, France

Media

Düren has its own radio station ( Radio Rur). The station broadcasts on 92.7 and 107.5 MHz, and on cable at 87.5 MHz. There are two daily newspapers (Dürener Zeitung, Dürener Nachrichten) and several weekly papers.

Notable people

* Rabbi Isaac ben Meir of Duren (13th century rabbi), author of Shaarei Dura * Karl Benrath (1845–1924), Church historian * Johann Bollig (born 1821), Pontifical Theologian and advisor to

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

* Marita Breuer (born 1953), actress * Klaus H. Carl (born 1935), photographer * Manfred Donike (1933–1995), cyclist *

Gert Engels Gert Engels is a successful German football coach and former Bundesliga player with decades-long connections to East Asia. Summary Coming from a football family, Engels initially played for Borussia Mönchengladbach during their golden decade ...

(born 1957), football coach * John Engels (born 1959), historian * Simon Ernst (born 1994), handball player * Margot Eskens (born 1939), Schlager singer * Jerome Felton (born 1987), American football player * Gossen, Hermann Heinrich (1810–1858), Prussian economist * Georg Hamel (1877–1954), mathematician * Wilfried Hannes (born 1957), football player * Ute Hasse (born 1963), swimmer, Olympic silver medal * Rudolf Henke (born 1954), MP'' * Leopold Hoesch (1820–1899), founder of Hoesch AG in

Dortmund Dortmund (; ; ) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the List of cities in Germany by population, ninth-largest city in Germany. With a population of 614,495 inhabitants, it is the largest city ...

, and founder of the Leopold Hoesch Museum in Düren * Friedrich Honigmann (1841–1913), mining entrepreneur * Karin Jacobsen (1924–1989), actress and screenwriter * Harald Konopka (born 1952), football player * Karl Lauterbach (born 1963), economist and politician *

Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet Johann Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet (; ; 13 February 1805 – 5 May 1859) was a German mathematician. In number theory, he proved special cases of Fermat's last theorem and created analytic number theory. In analysis, he advanced the theory o ...

(1805–1859), mathematician *

Michael Lentz Michael Lentz (born 1964) is a German author, musician, and performer of experimental texts and sound poetry. Life Lentz was born in Düren. His father (1927–2014) was city manager () of Düren. Lentz completed his ''Abitur'' at the in 1983 ...

(born 1964), writer and musician * Christoph Moritz (born 1990), football player * Kalle Pohl (born 1951), comedian * Eugen Prym (1843–1913), orientalist and linguist * Friedrich Prym (1841–1915), mathematician and musician * Sven Schaffrath (born 1984), football player * Karl-Heinz Schnellinger (1939–2024), football player *

Max von Schillings Max von Schillings (April 19, 1868 – July 24, 1933) was a German conductor, composer and theatre director. He was chief conductor at the Berlin State Opera from 1919 to 1925. Schillings' opera ''Mona Lisa'' (1915) was internationally successfu ...

(1868–1933), conductor and composer * Sybille Schmitz (1909–1955), German film star * Rudolf Schock (1915–1986),

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

singer * Rudolf Schoeller (1902–1978), Swiss racing driver * Harald Schumacher (born 1954), football player with 1. FC Köln and Germany national * Hermann Schwarz (1864–1951), philosopher * Georg Stollenwerk (born 1927), football player * Stephan Thiemonds (born 1971), writer * Lars Vogt (1970–2022), pianist * Paul J. J. Welfens (1957–2022), economist

References

External links

Düren, official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duren Towns in North Rhine-Westphalia Free imperial cities Districts of the Rhine Province Düren (district) Articles containing video clips