Bergisch Gladbach () is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

in the Cologne/Bonn Region of

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, and capital of the

Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis The (, ) is a Kreis (Districts of Germany, district) in the Cologne Bonn Region of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Mettmann (district), Kreis Mettman, Oberbergischer Kreis and Rhein-Sieg, and the district-free cities C ...

(district).

Geography

Bergisch Gladbach is east of the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

and about 10 km east of

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 ...

City structure

The urban area of Bergisch Gladbach is not divided into city districts ('' Stadtbezirke'') with their own district representation. For statistical purposes, there are six statistical districts (''statistische

Bezirk The German language, German term (; Grammatical number#Overview, pl. ; derived from , "circle") translated as "district" can refer to the following types of administrative divisions: * , a subdivision of a city in the sense of a borough (e ...

e''), which are numbered consecutively and are divided into several districts ('' :de: Stadtteile'') with their own names. These are mainly name of former smaller settlements from which today's urban area developed, or new development areas whose names have been memorized over time for better orientation. Bensberg was an independent town until 1975. Before 1975, Schildgen belonged to the municipality of

Odenthal Odenthal () is a municipality in the Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Odenthal is situated approximately 5 km north of Bergisch Gladbach and 15 km north-east of Cologne. Neighbouring places Near ...

. *Statistical District 1: Schildgen (11), Katterbach (12), Nussbaum (13), Paffrath (14), Hand (15) *Statistical District 2: City Center (21), Hebborn (22), Heidkamp (23), Gronau (24) *Statistical District 3: Romaney (31), Herrenstrunden (32), Sand (33) *Statistical District 4: Herkenrath (41), Asselborn (42), Bärbroich (43) *Statistical District 5: Lückerath (51), Bensberg (52), Bockenberg (53), Kaule (54), Moitzfeld (55) *Statistical District 6: Refrath (61), Alt Refrath (62), Kippekausen (63), Frankenforst (64), Lustheide (65)

Neighbouring municipalities

Beginning in the north, the neighbouring municipalities and neighbouring towns are clockwise

, Kürten, Overath, Rösrath,

and

Leverkusen Leverkusen () 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 the state capital, Düsseldorf. The city is part of the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan ...

History

Early settlements existed in the 13th century, but the town was officially founded only in 1856. The word ''Bergisch'' in the name does not originate from its location in the county of

Berg Berg may refer to: People *Berg (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * General Berg (disambiguation) * Berg Ng (born 1960), Hong Kong actor * Berg (footballer, born 1963), Ninimbergue dos Santos Guerra, Brazilian footba ...

, and it was not added to distinguish it from

Mönchengladbach Mönchengladbach (, ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany, west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Netherlands, Dutch border. Geography Municipal subdivisions Since 2009, th ...

, as is believed by many people, but from the counts who gave their name to the region. In the early 12th century, the counts of Berg settled in the area, which later became the Duchy of Berg (under Napoleon, it became a grand duchy). That is where the first part of the name (''Bergisch'') comes from, the town being located in the former County of Berg. The town is the administrative headquarters (''Kreisstadt'') of the Rheinish-Bergisch district (''Kreis''). The second part of the name, ''Gladbach'', originates from Low Rhenish (''Bergisches Platt'') and means ''canalised stream'' in reference to the small river (the ''Strunde'') that was artificially canalised in early medieval times. In ''Bergisch Platt'', the regional dialect, ''gelaat'' (laid) eventually evolved to ''glad'' (the 'd' is often pronounced as a 't'). The second part of the word, ''Bach'', is the

Standard German Standard High German (SHG), less precisely Standard German or High German (, , or, in Switzerland, ), is the umbrella term for the standard language, standardized varieties of the German language, which are used in formal contexts and for commun ...

word for a small stream and refers to the '' Strunde''. In 1975, the town incorporated the neighbouring Bensberg, and when it reached a population of 100,000 in 1977 it was given city status.

Economy

Paper manufacturing, printing,

glass wool Glass wool is an Thermal insulation, insulating material made from glass fiber arranged using a Binder (material), binder into a texture similar to wool. The process traps many small pockets of air between the glass, and these small air pockets r ...

manufacturing, chocolate and high-tech industries are a large part of Bergisch Gladbach's economy.

Politics

Mayor

The current mayor of Bergisch Gladbach is Frank Stein 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). The most recent mayoral election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows: ! colspan=2, Candidate ! Party ! Votes ! % , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Frank Stein , align=left,

, 25,321 , 52.3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Christian Buchen , align=left, Christian Democratic Union , 18,973 , 39.2 , - , , align=left, Iro Herrmann , align=left, Citizens' Party GL , 2,093 , 4.3 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Günther Schöpf , 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 ...

, 2,014 , 4.2 , - ! colspan=3, Valid votes ! 48,401 ! 99.3 , - ! colspan=3, Invalid votes ! 358 ! 0.7 , - ! colspan=3, Total ! 48,759 ! 100.0 , - ! colspan=3, Electorate/voter turnout ! 89,995 ! 54.2 , - , colspan=7, Source
City of Bergisch Gladbach

City council

The Bergisch Gladbach 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) , 17,463 , 36.2 , 5.7 , 20 , 6 , - , bgcolor=, , 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 ...

(Grüne) , 13,858 , 28.7 , 12.8 , 16 , 6 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(SPD) , 9,209 , 19.1 , 5.0 , 10 , 5 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left, Free Democratic Party (FDP) , 2,438 , 5.1 , 0.5 , 3 , ±0 , - , bgcolor=, , align=left,

(AfD) , 2,213 , 4.6 , 0.2 , 3 , ±0 , - , , align=left, Citizens' Party GL (BGL) , 1,398 , 2.9 , 1.2 , 2 , 1 , - , , align=left, Free Voters' Association Bergisch Gladbach (FWG) , 1,645 , 3.4 , New , 2 , New , - ! colspan=2, Valid votes ! 48,224 ! 98.8 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Invalid votes ! 597 ! 1.2 ! ! ! , - ! colspan=2, Total ! 48,821 ! 100.0 ! ! 56 ! 6 , - ! colspan=2, Electorate/voter turnout ! 89,995 ! 52.3 ! 0.1 ! ! , - , colspan=7, Source
City of Bergisch Gladbach

Twin towns – sister cities

Bergisch Gladbach is twinned with: * Beit Jala, Palestine (2010) *

Bourgoin-Jallieu Bourgoin-Jallieu (; ) is a commune in the Isère department in the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in France. The city had 28,834 inhabitants in 2019 and lies 35 kilometres east-southeast of Lyon. It was formed by the merger of the former comm ...

, France (1956) * Bucha, Ukraine (2022) *

Ganei Tikva Ganei Tikva () is a city in Israel bordering Kiryat Ono to the west, Petah Tikva to the north, Gat Rimon to the east and Savyon to the south. History Ganei Tikva was formed in 1949, located on the land of the Palestinian village of Al-'A ...

, Israel (2012) * Joinville-le-Pont, France (1960) *

Limassol Limassol, also known as Lemesos, is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the Limassol district. Limassol is the second-largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population of 195,139 and a district population o ...

, Cyprus (1991) *

Luton Luton () is a town and borough in Bedfordshire, England. The borough had a population of 225,262 at the 2021 census. Luton is on the River Lea, about north-west of London. The town's foundation dates to the sixth century as a Saxon settleme ...

, England (1956) *

Marijampolė Marijampolė (; also known by Marijampolė#Names, several other names) is the Capital city, capital of Marijampolė County in the south of Lithuania, bordering Poland and Russian Kaliningrad Oblast, and Lake Vištytis. The city's population stood ...

, Lithuania (1989) * Pszczyna, Poland (1993) *

Runnymede Runnymede is a water-meadow alongside the River Thames in the English county of Surrey, bordering Berkshire and just over west of central London. It is notable for its association with the sealing of Magna Carta, and as a consequence is, with ...

, England (1995) *

Velsen Velsen () is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is located on both sides of the North Sea Canal. On the north side of the North Sea Canal there is a major steel plant, Tata Steel IJmuiden, formerly known as ...

, Netherlands (1956)

Notable people

* Markus von Ahlen (born 1971), footballer and coach * Rüdiger Baldauf (born 1961), jazz musician * Astrid Benöhr (born 1957), endurance athlete * Sebastian Blomberg (born 1972), actor * Wolfgang Bosbach (born 1952), politician (CDU) * Karl Budde (1850–1935), Protestant theologian *

Armin Falk Armin Falk (born 18 January 1968) is a German economist. He has held a chair at the University of Bonn since 2003. Biography Education and career Falk studied economics as well as philosophy and history at the University of Cologne. In 1998 he o ...

(born 1968), economist * Markus Feldenkirchen (born 1975), journalist * Philomena Franz (1922 - 2022), Sinti writer and activist * Vanessa Fuchs (born 1996), Germany's Next Topmodel winner of the season 2015 * Kerstin Gier (born 1966), author * Volker Goetze (born 1972), German born, New York based musician composer and filmmaker *

Fabian Hambüchen Fabian Hambüchen (also spelled Hambuechen; ; born 25 October 1987) is a retired Germany, German Gymnastics, gymnast who was an Olympic Games, Olympic champion on horizontal bar in Gymnastics at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Rio 2016, World champion ...

(born 1987), artistic gymnast * Götz Heidelberg (1923–2017), physicist, constructor and entrepreneur * Waldemar Henrici (1878–1950), general and Reichsarbeitsdienstführer *

Mats Hummels Mats Julian Hummels (; born 16 December 1988) is a German former professional Association football, footballer who played as a centre-back. Known for his well-timed tackles, accurate long passes from the back, aerial ability and strength, he is r ...

(born 1988), footballer * Hubert Käppel (born 1951), guitarist and music pedagogue * Brigitte Kraus (born 1956), middle distance runner * Georg Koch (born 1972), football goalkeeper *

Heidi Klum Heidi Klum (; born 1 June 1973) is a German and American model, television personality, producer, and businesswoman. She appeared on the cover of the ''Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue'' in 1998 and was the first German model to become a Vict ...

(born 1973), model and presenter * Carolin Kebekus (born 1980), comedian, singer and actress * Theo Koll (born 1958), journalist * German Mäurer (1811–1885), Prussian writer * Veronika Moos-Brochhagen (born 1961), textile artist * Benyamin Nuss (born 1989), pianist * Bastian Oczipka (born 1989), footballer * Uwe Ommer (born 1943), act, fashion and advertising photos *

Monika Piel Monika Piel (born 9 April 1951 in Bensberg) is a German television journalist and radio journalist. Life and career Piel studied Business economics in Cologne. Afterwards she studied Jura and Oriental Studies without graduating. During her ...

(born 1951), journalist and presenter * Tibor Pleiß (born 1989), basketball player * Karin Sander (born 1957), artist * David Schnell (born 1971), painter * Tim Wiese (born 1981), German

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

goalkeeper and wrestler

Secondary schools in Bergisch Gladbach

* Albertus-Magnus-Gymnasium Bensberg/Bergisch Gladbach * Gymnasium Herkenrath/Bergisch Gladbach *

Nicolaus-Cusanus-Gymnasium Bergisch Gladbach The Nicolaus-Cusanus-Gymnasium (NCG) is a public high school in the Germany, German city Bergisch Gladbach. The school is named after the German church law academic, philosopher, bishop and Cardinal (Catholicism), cardinal Nicholas of Cusa. In 18 ...

* Otto-Hahn-Gymnasium Bensberg/Bergisch Gladbach * Dietrich-Bonhoeffer-Gymnasium Bergisch Gladbach * Integrierte-Gesamtschule-Paffrath Bergisch Gladbach

References

External links

*
Fire Department Bergisch Gladbach
{{Authority control Cities in North Rhine-Westphalia Districts of the Rhine Province