WUPPERTAL - MY HOMETOWN

Hello my dear friends,

have you ever been to Wuppertal? - No? What a shame. Because you`ve missed to see one of the most exciting Cities in Germany.

I`ve just listed a Photo Disc with Images of Wuppertal and the Schwebebahn.

Click here.

Wuppertal is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in and around the Wupper river valley, and is situated east of the city of Düsseldorf and south of the Ruhr area. With a population of approximately 350,000, it is the largest city in the Bergisches Land. Wuppertal is known for its steep slopes, its woods and parks, and its suspension railway, the Wuppertal Schwebebahn. Two-thirds of the total municipal area of Wuppertal is green space. From any part of the city it is only a ten-minute walk in one of the public parks or woodland paths.In the 18th and 19th centuries, Wuppertal was one of the biggest industrial regions of continental Europe. Wuppertal today is still a major industrial centre, being home to industries such as textiles, metallurgy, chemicals, pharmaceuticals (Aspirin was invented in Wuppertal in 1897 by Bayer), electronics, automobiles, rubber, vehicles and printing equipment.

Wuppertal in its present borders was formed in 1929 by merging the early-industrial cities of Barmen and Elberfeld with Vohwinkel, Ronsdorf, Cronenberg, Langerfeld, and Beyenburg. The initial name Barmen-Elberfeld was changed in a 1930 referendum to Wuppertal (“Wupper Valley”). The new city was administered within the Prussian Rhine Province.Uniquely for Germany it is a linear ciy, owing to the steep hillsides along the river Wupper. Its highest hill is the Lichtscheid which is 351 metres above sea level. The dominant urban centres Elberfeld (historic commercial centre) and Barmen (more industrial) have formed a unified built-up area since 1850. In the following decades, “Wupper-Town” became the dominant industrial agglomeration of northwestern Germany. In the 20th century this conurbation had been surpassed by Cologne, Düsseldorf and the Ruhr area, all with a more favourable topography.