Wuppertal

Hover through Wuppertal

Wuppertal is modern city of Germany situated in State North Rhine-Westphalia. Its area is around 168.41 km² (65 sq mi). It is on the Wupper River south of the Ruhr area. Wuppertal is unique combination of urban and rural styles of living. Most of the area is covered with green parks, meadows, gardens and fields. A public park is not very from any part of the city it is only a ten-minute walk. Manufactures include textiles, machinery, tools, chemicals, rubber, vehicles, printing equipment, and beer.

History

It is an industrial center, formed in 1929 by the merger of Barmen, Elberfeld, Vohwinkel, and several smaller towns. The first major air attacks using these developed technologies and seeking to destroy city centres took place in 1943, on Wuppertal in May and June, four raids on Hamburg creating an intense fire-storm two months later, and on Kassel in October. Over 700 bombers flew on the first Wuppertal raid, 2,450 people being killed with industrial production retarded for seven weeks. In Hamburg, the most thorough air-raid precautions could not withstand the 7,931 tons of bombs dropped.

Geography and best time to visit Wuppertal

In 1929, simply by an official stroke of the pen, the cities of Barmen and Elberfeld were united to form the new city Wuppertal; they had for a long time been growing together, and, of course, both were located in the valley of the Wupper River. Many business centres, but no actual city center, can be found in one of the best known consolidated city areas, the Ruhr district, which should, from the viewpoint of geography and sociology, be called the Ruhr City. There, between Duisburg in the west and Dortmund in the east, at least sixteen city areas have grown together into an industrial city unit of 4.1 million inhabitants, which in effect is Germany's largest city. Officially it is divided into many cities, the largest of them being Essen, Dortmund, Duisburg, and Gelsenkirchen; but, were it not for the identifying nameplates set up along the streets, no motorist would be able to tell these various "cities" apart.

Attractions in and around Wuppertal

It is a city of monuments and beautiful building and parks. There are over 4,500 buildings classified national monuments, dating from styles as Neoclassicism, Eclecticism, Historicism, Art Nouveau/Jugendstil and Bauhaus.

Cultural tastes are accommodated for in a variety of ways. The tripartite theatre, consisting of opera house, playhouse and Pina Bausch’s modern dance theatre, has made a name for the city far beyond its own boundaries. The municipal symphony orchestra and the boy’s choir are household names to anyone interested in classical genre of music.

Following extensive restoration, the city’s concert hall (Stadthalle) on the Johannisberg counts among the most beautiful and acoustically excellent concert halls in Europe.

Wuppertal, a mixture of outgoing metropolis and cozy village richly adorned with stucco facades and still a few handsome half- timbered houses, offers interesting surprises: a total of 8,723 municipal steps have to be climbed to get from the lowest point to the highest, for Wuppertal lies at an altitude of between 100 and 350 meters above the mean sea level. However, interesting insights and views make up for the strain of climbing so many steps.

In Wuppertal’s clock museum time seems to fly. Here you can see and hear how man has tried for 5,000 years to cope with time.

Part of the History Center is the house were Engels was born (Engelshaus), architecturally typical of the region and in which there is a permanent display of materials associated with Friedrich Engels and other famous citizens of Wuppertal. The museum of early industries that offers a glimpse of the industrial development of the Wupper Valley also belongs to the History Center.

North- Rhine/ Westphalia’s first and only children’s museum is a major attraction for all youngsters, with the elephant-drum, giraffe-guitar and other homemade instruments setting the tone.

Things to do in Wuppertal

One of the city’s greatest attractions is the suspended monorail (“Wuppertaler Schwebebahn”), which was established in 1901. The tracks are 8 m above the streets and 12 m above the Wupper River.

First, of course, its world-renowned suspension railway, which “like a dragon, hard as steel, with several stations for heads and flashing eyes, twists and turns above the river”, as the writer Else Lasker-Schüler, the city’s most famous daughter, describes it.

It is only a few strides from the narrow, steep steps to the extensive shopping precincts. Wuppertal’ s pedestrian zone in the district Elberfeld is ideal for a non-stop shopping spree, with supermarkets, shops, and boutiques to suit every taste.

Anyone feeling in need of replenishment afterwards should not miss out on the legendary regional afternoon coffee spread (Bergische Kaffeetafel), “coffee and all that goes with it”, as the locals say. You will find it on the menu of fashionable gourmet restaurants as well as on the bill of fare of quaint and cozy pubs, which can be found on every corner.

An eldorado for art lovers is the well known “Von der Heydt- Museum” with masterpieces by 19th and 20th century artists. The first Picasso ever to appear in public went on display here. Today, the museum houses one of the most important art collections of paintings and other works of art in Federal Republic.

Surrounded by wooded hills it nestles in the narrow valley of the Wupper, whose banks were at one time bordered by bleaching greens, and the city boundaries melt into the hilly fields and extensive woods of the Graf Berg region.

A favorite day- trippers’ rendezvous for the people of Wuppertal as well as for visitors from near and far is the zoo - one of the most scenically attractive in the world. It has over 5,000 animals and birds from all parts of the globe.

The best way for the visitor to get a first glimpse of this bustling city, which is still so very genial, is to take a ride on the suspension railway. This brick, fast-moving train is not just a city landmark and monument, but has shown itself to be the world’s safest transport system ever since it was inaugurated.