Essen facts for kids

This page is about the city in Germany. For other places with the same name, see Essen (disambiguation).

Quick facts for kids

Essen

Villa Hügel near the river Ruhr

Flag	Coat of arms

Country

Germany

State

North Rhine-Westphalia

Admin. region

Düsseldorf

District

Urban district

Subdivisions

9 districts, 50 boroughs

Elevation

116 m (381 ft)

Population

(2022-12-31)

• City

584,580

• Metro

5.302.179

Time zone

CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)

Postal codes

45001-45359

Dialling codes

0201, 02054 (Kettwig)

Vehicle registration

Website

www.essen.de

Essen is a big city in Germany, located in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It sits by the Ruhr River and is close to other major cities like Cologne, Duisburg, and Bochum. About 585,000 people call Essen home. It is one of the largest cities in the Ruhr Area, a region with over 5 million residents. Essen is often called the "shopping city" because it has many malls and stores.

Where is Essen Located?
How is Essen Governed?
What are the Famous Places in Essen?
What is Essen's History?
Media and News in Essen
Exploring Essen's Boroughs
Famous People from Essen
Sports in Essen
Essen's Twin Towns
Images for kids
See also

Where is Essen Located?

Essen is found in the western part of Germany, within the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a key part of the Ruhr Area, which includes eleven cities and four districts. The Ruhr and Emscher rivers flow through Essen. A beautiful lake called Baldeney is also part of the Ruhr River here.

Essen shares its borders with several other cities. To the west, you'll find Oberhausen and Mülheim an der Ruhr. To the south are Ratingen, Heiligenhaus, and Velbert. East of Essen are Hattingen, Bochum, and Gelsenkirchen. Finally, to the north are Gladbeck and Bottrop. Other important cities nearby include Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Dortmund, and Münster.

How is Essen Governed?

Essen has a long history of being a city where many coal miners lived and worked. Because of this, the SPD (a political party focused on social fairness) has always been very popular here.

During the time of National Socialism, the Nazi Party chose the city's mayors. However, from 1999 to 2009, the Christian Democratic Party led the city with Mayor Dr.Wolfgang Reiniger. In the local elections of 2009, Reinhard Paß from the SPD became the new mayor.

What are the Famous Places in Essen?

Essen is home to many interesting and famous places. Here are some you might want to visit:

Villa Hügel: This was the grand home of the Krupp family, who were very important industrialists.
Essen Cathedral: This is the main church for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Essen. Inside, in the Domschatzkammer (dome treasure chamber), you can see the famous Golden Madonna of Essen.
Old Synagogue (Alte Synagoge): An important historical building.
Lichtburg: This is the oldest cinema in Germany and still shows movies today.
Zeche Zollverein: Once a large coal mine, it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001. It's now a museum and cultural center.
Folkwang museum: A large museum that also has a famous music academy.
Werden abbey: A historic monastery founded around the year 800.
Aalto theatre: Essen's largest theater, designed by the famous Finnish architect Alvar Aalto.
Essen philharmonic orchestra: This building, also known as Saalbau, is right next to the Aalto theatre.

What is Essen's History?

Essen's story began around 850 when Saint Altfrid founded the Damenstift, a special abbey for women led by a princess. Around this time, the Essen Cathedral was built. The city was first known by its Latin name, Assindia. Over time, its name changed through Essendia and Essend to what it is today: Essen.

In 1377, Essen became a free imperial city, meaning it was directly under the rule of the Holy Roman Emperor. Back then, it was a small town in a quiet area. Essen grew much more important when the Industrial Revolution started. In 1811, Friedrich Krupp opened a small steel factory in Essen. This factory grew very quickly, and so did the city's population. Just 80 years after Krupp's factory began, Essen was a big city with 100,000 residents.

The Ruhr River region had lots of coal, which led to many coal mines opening in Essen and nearby cities. Wealthy industrial families, like the Krupps, Haniels, and Grillos, helped fund cultural buildings such as the Grillo theatre and the Folkwang museum.

Because of its large industries, Essen was heavily bombed during World War II. Many lives were lost, and many buildings were destroyed. Not all of them were rebuilt after the war. In the 1970s, coal mining in Essen stopped because coal from other countries became cheaper. This made the city poorer. However, Essen was saved by a Strukturwandel (structural change). Old coal mines, like Zeche Zollverein, were turned into museums or theaters. In 2003, the universities of Essen and Duisburg joined together to form the University Duisburg-Essen.

In 2010, Essen was named Kulturhauptstadt Europas (European Capital of Culture). It shared this honor with Istanbul and Pécs in Hungary.

Media and News in Essen

Essen is a hub for media. The WDR (Westdeutscher Rundfunk, which means Western German Broadcasting) has a TV station here. The city is also home to the two largest newspapers, the WAZ (Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung) and the NRZ (Neue Ruhr Zeitung). Both newspapers belong to the WAZ-media group. Essen also has its own radio station called Radio Essen.

Exploring Essen's Boroughs

Essen is divided into nine main districts (Bezirke) and 50 smaller areas called boroughs (Stadtteile). Some of the most well-known boroughs include:

Kettwig: Until 1975, Kettwig was a separate town. Its Altstadt (old town) is famous for its many beautiful timber-framed houses.
Werden: Located in the south of the city, Werden is Essen's oldest borough. The historic Werden abbey is found here.
Rüttenscheid: This borough is known for its many cultural buildings, like the Folkwang museum. The WDR-studio and Essen's trade fair, the Gruga, are also in Rüttenscheid.
Katernberg: In the north of Essen, Katernberg was where many coal miners used to live. Zeche Zollverein is located here. The Krupp family built many houses in Katernberg for their workers.
Margarethenhöhe: This was another large coal miner's borough, close to Rüttenscheid. It was named after Margarethe Krupp. The Krupps built houses and shops for their workers, hoping they would spend their wages there. Today, Margarethenhöhe is considered one of Essen's most beautiful boroughs.
Steele: In the east of the city, Steele was once as big as Essen in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Borbeck: Located in the west, Borbeck was separate from Essen for a long time. It is home to the large Borbeck Castle (Schloss Borbeck). People from Borbeck even speak their own regional dialect, called Borbecker Platt.

The nine main districts of Essen are:

Bezirk I (Stadtmitte/Frillendorf/Huttrop)
Bezirk II (Rüttenscheid/Bergerhausen/Rellinghausen/Stadtwald)
Bezirk III (Essen-West)
Bezirk IV (Borbeck)
Bezirk V (Altenessen/Karnap/Vogelheim)
Bezirk VI (Katernberg/Schonnebeck/Stoppenberg)
Bezirk VII (Steele/Kray)
Bezirk VIII (Ruhrhalbinsel)
Bezirk IX (Werden/Kettwig/Bredeney)

Famous People from Essen

Many notable people have connections to Essen:

Heinz Rühmann: A famous actor whose parents owned Essen's well-known hotel Handelshof.
Carl Humann: An explorer known for his work on the Great Altar of Pergamon.
Karl Baedeker: A publisher whose company created many popular travel guidebooks.
Alfred Krupp: A key figure in the Krupp industrial family.
Franz Dinndendahl: He built the first steam engine in the Ruhr area.

Other important people who lived and worked in Essen for a long time include:

Berthold Beitz: He helped save the Krupp company from financial trouble.
Wilhelm Busch: A famous poet and painter.
Gustav Heinemann: A German politician who was once mayor of Essen and later became the federal president of Germany.

Sports in Essen

The most popular sport in Germany is soccer. Essen has two important soccer clubs: Rot-Weiß Essen (RWE) and Schwarz-Weiß Essen. The women's soccer club, SG Essen-Schönebeck, is even more successful, playing in the top league, the Bundesliga.

Another big sport in Essen is team handball. TUSEM Essen is the city's most important club in this sport. For ice hockey fans, there's the ESC Moskitos Essen. The biggest basketball club is ETB Wohnbau Baskets Essen. Essen also has many clubs for table tennis and swimming.

Essen's Twin Towns

Essen has special partnerships with several cities around the world. These are called twin towns:

UK - Sunderland, since 1949
Finland - Tampere, since 1960
France - Grenoble, since 1974
Russia - Nizhny Novgorod, since 1991
Israel - Tel Aviv-Yafo, since 1991

Images for kids

Essen on an engraving from 1647
Essen Minster
Alte Kirche (Old Church, built 1887), Altenessen
French troops enter Essen in 1923
Devastation of Krupp factory
View over Central Essen from Bottrop
Ruhrschnellweg towards the central business district of Essen
Essen/Mülheim Airport
Borough of Kettwig, annexed in 1975. Despite its industrial history, Essen is generally regarded as one of Germany's greenest cities.
Stadion Essen
ThyssenKrupp headquarters in Essen
RWE AG headquarters in the business district
E.ON headquarters
RWE AG headquarters
Hochtief headquarters
Evonik Industries headquarters
Schenker AG headquarters
Postbank Essen
Deutsche Bank branch in the financial district
Emschergenossenschaft Essen
Messe Essen south entrance
Messe Essen, east entrance
Messe Essen south entrance
Folkwang University of the Arts
Zollverein School of Management and Design
Universität Essen
Folkwang University
Elisabethkrankenhaus Essen
University Hospital Essen
Main station
Essen Stadtbahn NF2-TW 1601
Essen Hauptbahnhof
Essen Hauptbahnhof in the city centre
Essen Hauptbahnhof subway station
Platforms at Kaiser-Wilhelm-Park
Coal mine Zollverein
Shaft XII of Zollverein
Zollverein entrance
Ruhrmuseum
Ruhrmuseum staircase
Golden Madonna of Essen
Golden Madonna of Essen
Cross of Otto and Mathilde, tenth century
St. Ludger Basilica
Essen Minster overshadowed by the town hall
Synagogue, 1917
Synagogue 1922
Old Synagogue, 2010
Old Synagogue, 2014
Old Synagogue interior
Villa Hügel
Villa Hügel
Villa Hügel
Great hall
Essen Werden
Essen Werden
Essen Werden historic town centre
Protestant church Essen Werden
Essen Werden
Essen Werden, old town hall
Historic town centre of Kettwig
Blick op Kettwig met Uferpalais im Herbst 2013.jpg

Essen Kettwig
Saalbau Essen
Museum Folkwang
Aalto Theatre
Colosseum Theater
Grillo-Theater
Grugahalle concert hall
Schloss Borbeck
Hugenpoet castle