Leverkusen

Leverkusen

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Leverkusen
Leverkusen within North Rhine-Westphalia
Coordinates: 51°02′N 06°59′E / 51.033°N 6.983°E / 51.033; 6.983Coordinates: 51°02′N 06°59′E / 51.033°N 6.983°E / 51.033; 6.983
Country Germany
State North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region Köln
District Urban district
Government
 • Mayor Uwe Richrath (SPD)
 • Governing parties CDU / SPD / Bürgerliste
Area
 • Total 78.85 km2 (30.44 sq mi)
Elevation 60 m (200 ft)
Population (2016-12-31)[1]
 • Total 163,113
 • Density 2,100/km2 (5,400/sq mi)
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Dialling codes 0214, 02171 & 02173
Vehicle registration LEV and OP
Website www.leverkusen.de

Leverkusen (/ˈleɪvərˌkuːzən/; German pronunciation: [ˈleːvɐˌkuːzn̩] ( listen)) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the South, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne and to the North is the state capital Düsseldorf.

With about 161,000 inhabitants, Leverkusen is one of the state's smaller cities. The city is known for the pharmaceutical company Bayer and its associated sports club Bayer 04 Leverkusen.

History

The heart of what is now Leverkusen was a village called Wiesdorf, which dates back to the 12th century. During the Cologne War, from 1583 to 1588 Leverkusen was ravaged by war. The entire area was rural until the late 19th century, when industry prompted the development that led to the city of Leverkusen, and to its becoming one of the most important centres of the German chemical industry.

The chemist Carl Leverkus, looking for a place to build a dye factory, chose Wiesdorf in 1860. He built a factory for the production of artificial ultramarine blue at the Kahlberg in Wiesdorf in 1861, and called the emerging settlement "Leverkusen" after his family home in Lennep. The factory was taken over by the Bayer company in 1891; Bayer moved its headquarters to Wiesdorf in 1912. After asset confiscation at the end of the First World War, it became IG Farben. The city of Leverkusen proper was founded in 1930 by merging Wiesdorf, Schlebusch, Steinbüchel and Rheindorf, and was posthumously named for Carl Leverkus.

During the Second World War, the IG Farben factories were bombed by the RAF on 22 August 1943,[2] again by the RAF during bombing campaigns on 19/20 November, the USAAF Eighth Air Force on 1 December 1943,[3] and finally once again by the RAF on 10/11 December 1943.

In 1975, Opladen (including Quettingen and Lützenkirchen since 1930), Hitdorf and Bergisch Neukirchen joined Leverkusen. The present city is made up of several villages, originally called Wiesdorf, Opladen, Schlebusch, Manfort, Bürrig, Hitdorf, Quettingen, Lützenkirchen, Steinbüchel, Rheindorf and Bergisch-Neukirchen.

Main sights and places of interest

Japanese Garden in front of the Bayer tower
  • BayArena is the home stadium of Bayer Leverkusen, with a capacity of over 30,000.
  • The Bayer Cross Leverkusen is one of the largest illuminated advertisements in the world.
  • Freudenthaler Sensenhammer is an industrial museum.
  • Schloss Morsbroich – moated castle in the Baroque style, now a museum for contemporary art.
  • Water Tower Leverkusen-Bürrig – 72.45-metre-high (237.7 ft) water reservoir containing an observation deck
  • Neuland Park – large park beside the Rhine
  • Japanese Garden – A garden created by Carl Duisberg in 1923
  • Colony of workers – historical urban district in the centre of Leverkusen
  • Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit – historical Boat bridge next to the Rhine between Wiesdorf and Rheindorf
  • Mausoleum of Carl Duisberg – mausoleum in the centre of the Carl Duisberg Park next to the Casino
  • NaturGut Ophoven – educational centre for nature in Leverkusen-Opladen
Largest groups of foreign residents[4]
NationalityPopulation (2018)
 Turkey3,776
 Italy2,382
 Poland2,159
 Macedonia1,956
 Greece1,254
 Croatia1,015
Others:12,096

Sports

The city is home to the German record holder of national basketball championships, which is the team Bayer Giants Leverkusen. As of 2017, the team plays in the 3rd division ProB and plays its home games in the Smidt-Arena.

The Smidt-Arena, previously known as Wilhelm Dopatka Halle, was one of the host arenas for the FIBA EuroBasket 1985 (the official European Basketball Championship).

International relations

BayArena

Leverkusen is twinned with:

Notable people


References

  1. ↑ "Amtliche Bevölkerungszahlen" (in German). Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW. Retrieved 2018-02-24.
  2. ↑ WW2 People's War - A Bedfordshire Bomb Aimer - Part Two. BBC. Retrieved on 2013-07-17.
  3. ↑ 322nd Dailies from 1943 - 91st Bomb Group (H). 91st Bomb Group. Retrieved on 2013-07-17.
  4. ↑ http://www.leverkusen.com/newsbild/151127/Stadt01.pdf
  5. ↑ "Ystävyyskaupungit (Twin Cities)". Oulun kaupunki (City of Oulu) (in Finnish). Retrieved 2013-07-27.
  6. ↑ (Bracknell Town, part of the Bracknell Forest local authority twinned with Opladen in 1973, Opladen then incorporated with Leverkusen in 1975
  7. ↑ "Medmestno in mednarodno sodelovanje". Mestna občina Ljubljana (Ljubljana City) (in Slovenian). Archived from the original on 2013-06-26. Retrieved 2013-07-27.
  8. ↑ www.leverkusen.com, Andreas Born, Leverkusen,. "Partnerschaftsinitiative Leverkusen-Ratibor e.V.: Der Partnerschaftsvertrag". www.leverkusen.com. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  9. ↑ http://www.leverkusen.com/born, Andreas Born,. "Leverkusen: Oberbürgermeister Buchhorn unterzeichnet Städtepartnerschaft mit Wuxi (Veröffentlicht am: 05.06.2014)". www.leverkusen.com. Retrieved 26 March 2018.

Sources

  • Blaschke, Stefan (1999): Unternehmen und Gemeinde: Das Bayerwerk im Raum Leverkusen 1891-1914 Cologne: SH-Verlag, ISBN 3-89498-068-0 (German)
  • Archive of Leverkusen (2005): Leverkusen. Geschichte einer Stadt am Rhein. Bielefeld: Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, ISBN 3-89534-575-X (German)
  • Franz Gruß (1987): Geschichte und Porträt der Stadt Leverkusen. Leverkusen: Verlag Anna Gruß, ISBN 3-930478-03-X (German)
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