Bilk is a quarter (''

Stadtteil A quarter is a section of an urban settlement. A quarter can be administratively defined and its borders officially designated, and it may have its own administrative structure (subordinate to that of the city, town or other urban area). Such a ...

'') of

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in ...

. Together with

Oberbilk Oberbilk is an inner-city urban quarter in the south-east of the German city of Düsseldorf. The back exit of the Central Station leads to Oberbilk. The new District Court of Düsseldorf is located in Oberbilk since 2010, as is the main office o ...

Unterbilk Unterbilk is an urban quarter in Borough 3 of the North Rhine-Westphalia state capital Düsseldorf. It is the seat of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Rheinturm tower and, together with the Düsseldorf docks is the centre of the me ...

Hamm Hamm (, Latin: ''Hammona'') is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northeastern part of the Ruhr area. As of 2016 its population was 179,397. The city is situated between the A1 motorway and A2 motorway. Hamm railwa ...

, Flehe and

Volmerswerth Volmerswerth is a '' Stadtteil'' (quarter) in western Düsseldorf, Borough 3, by the river Rhine. It borders the quarters Hamm, Bilk and Flehe. It has an area of , and 2,336 inhabitants (2020). Despite increasing urbanisation, the rural env ...

it constitutes Borough 3, which is the most populous borough of Düsseldorf. Bilk has an area of , and 41,150 inhabitants (2020). Heinrich-Heine-University is in Bilk.

History

The first documentary mention of Bilk is in the year 799. The Old Church is older and seems to be from about 700 A.D., given by Saint Suitbert, but was destroyed by fire about 900, and is mentioned in 1019 for the first time. During the following centuries, the church was reconstructed frequently, especially in the 12th century and the 17th century. Until the year 1206 the fishing settlement ''dusseldorp'', located to the North of Bilk, belonged to the Bilk parish. After August 14 of 1288 (the

Battle of Worringen The Battle of Worringen was fought on 5 June 1288 near the town of Worringen (also spelled Woeringen), which is now the northernmost borough of Cologne. It was the decisive battle of the War of the Limburg Succession, fought for the possession ...

) Düsseldorf got City Rights, the Old Bilk Church became a city church. In 1380 the County of Berg became the Duchy of Berg, Düsseldorf the capital of a duchy. In 1384 the village of Bilk (south of the Old Bilk Church, which belonged to Düsseldorf from beginning) became part of the city of Düsseldorf. Starting in 1852 in the South of Düsseldorf there was a growth of factories during the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

. Düsseldorf grew to the south and the traditionally industrial centres of the city are still there today. In 1893 the ''Hammer Eisenbahnbrücke'' - a railway bridge across the river Rhine - was finished. Bilk got its own railway station, which today is only a station for regional trains. The Bilk Observatory was founded in 1843 and destroyed by bombing in 1943. In 1852 24 asteroids were found there, called ''the 24 Düsseldorf planets''. The New Harbour of Düsseldorf was built between 1890 and 1896, but after a steel factory closed its production, the port losts its importance. In 1990 a great part of it was closed and filled in. The media industry settled on this land and a cultural centre grew. In 1999 the

Gehry Frank Owen Gehry, , FAIA (; ; born ) is a Canadian-born American architect and designer. A number of his buildings, including his private residence in Santa Monica, California, have become world-renowned attractions. His works are considered ...

buildings completed the new assemble.

Infrastructure

Düsseldorf-Bilk station is now served only by the

Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn The Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn (german: S-Bahn Rhein-Ruhr) is a polycentric and electrically driven S-train network covering the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Region in the German federated state of North Rhine-Westphalia. This includes most of the Ruhr (and ...

(slow regional trains) and is connected by the lines S 8, S 11 and S 28 to

Neuss Neuss (; spelled ''Neuß'' until 1968; li, Nüss ; la, Novaesium) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the west bank of the Rhine opposite Düsseldorf. Neuss is the largest city within the Rhein-Kreis Neuss district. I ...

Mönchengladbach Mönchengladbach (, li, Jlabbach ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Dutch border. Geography Municipal subdivisions Since 2009, the territory of Mönchengladba ...

Kaarst Kaarst (; li, Kaasj) is a town in Germany. It lies in the district of Rhein-Kreis Neuss in North Rhine-Westphalia. It is 5 km west of Neuss and 12 km east of Mönchengladbach. Division of the town Kaarst consists of 5 subdivisions * ...

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "'' Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and to ...

Hagen Hagen () is the 41st-largest city in Germany. The municipality is located in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located on the south eastern edge of the Ruhr area, 15 km south of Dortmund, where the rivers Lenne and Volme (met by t ...

Erkrath Erkrath () is a town in the district of Mettmann, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Erkrath is situated on the river Düssel, directly east of Düsseldorf and west of Wuppertal, close to the famous Neandertal. It has two stations, ...

Mettmann Mettmann () is a town in the northern part of the Bergisches Land, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Mettmann, Germany's most densely populated rural district. The town lies east of Düsseldorf ...

Dormagen Dormagen (; Ripuarian: ''Dormaje'') is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany in the Rhein-Kreis Neuss. Geography Dormagen is situated between Düsseldorf – Cologne – Mönchengladbach on the western bank of the river Rhine. Division of ...

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

and other parts of Düsseldorf (

Central station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

Düsseldorf-Gerresheim Gerresheim is one of the City of Düsseldorf, Germany's fifty quarters. Part of Borough 7, it is located in the eastern part of the municipality. Gerresheim is much older than Düsseldorf itself, having been an independent city with a rich histor ...

,...). Tram lines connect Bilk with the central district of Düsseldorf and a lot of other districts, especially with the south of the city,

Ratingen Ratingen ( li, Rotinge) is a town in the district of Mettmann in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It lies in the northwestern part of Berg about 12 km northeast of Düsseldorf. Administration With a communal reform of 1975 the independent m ...

, and the university. Also, bus lines connect Bilk with other parts of the city and the neighboring towns.

Buildings and attractions

* Alte Bilker Kirche (Old Saint Martin Church), oldest building in Düsseldorf * Bilker Kirche (Saint Martin Church) * Polizeipräsidium (1929–1932) and Oberfinanzdirektion (1929–1939) *

Rheinturm The Rheinturm (; 'Rhine Tower') is a concrete telecommunications tower in Düsseldorf, capital of the federal state (''Bundesland'') of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Construction commenced in 1979 and finished in 1981. The Rheinturm carries a ...

(high 240,5 m) * Düsseldorfer Stadttor (won some architecture awards) * K21 -

Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen The Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen is the art collection of the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, in Düsseldorf. United by this institution are three different exhibition venues: the ''K20'' at Grabbeplatz, the ''K21'' in the ...

* Botanic Garden Düsseldorf * Gehry buildings in the Harbour

Famous people who lived in Bilk

Johann Friedrich Benzenberg Johann Friedrich Benzenberg (5 May 1777 – 7 June 1846) was a German astronomer, geologist, and physicist. Biography Benzenberg was born near Elberfeld, Germany on 5 May 1777 to Heinrich Benzenberg and Johanna Elisabeth. He married Charlotte Pla ...

(1777–1846), astronomer *

Ferdinand Freiligrath Ferdinand Freiligrath (17 June 1810 – 18 March 1876) was a German poet, translator and liberal agitator, who is considered part of the Young Germany movement. Life Freiligrath was born in Detmold, Principality of Lippe. His father was a teacher ...

(1810–1876) * Maria Melos (1820–1888) *

Ferdinand Lassalle Ferdinand Lassalle (; 11 April 1825 – 31 August 1864) was a Prussian-German Confederation, German jurist, philosopher, Socialism, socialist and political activist best remembered as the initiator of the social democracy, social democratic move ...

(1825–1864), one of the founders of the Social Democratic Party of Germany *

Heinrich Spoerl Heinrich Christian Johann Spoerl (; 1887–1955) was a German author. Biography Spoerl was born on 8 February 1887 in Düsseldorf, where he also grew up. He studied jurisprudence in Marburg, Berlin and Munich and was a solicitor in Düsseldorf fr ...

(1887–1955), writer and his son

Alexander Spoerl Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

(1917–1978), writer * Jakob Salentin von Zuccalmaglio (1775–1838), jurist *

Heino Heinz Georg Kramm (born 13 December 1938), known professionally as Heino, is a German singer of Schlager music, Schlager and traditional Volksmusik. Having sold a total of over 50 million records, he is one of the most successful German musici ...

(1938)

Literature

* Udo Achten (Hrsg.): ''Düsseldorf zu Fuß, 17 Stadtteilrundgänge durch die Geschichte und Gegenwart''. 1. Aufl., VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 1989 * Karl Endmann: ''Düsseldorf und seine Eisenbahnen in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart''. 2. Aufl., Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1987 * Oswald Gerhard und Wilhelm Kleeblatt (Hrsg.): ''Düsseldorfer Sagen aus Stadt und Land''. Werkgetreue Neuausgabe von 1926, Verlag der Goethe-Buchhandlung, Düsseldorf 1982 * Karl Emerich Krämer: ''Durchs Düsseltal nach Düsseldorf''. 1. Aufl., Mercator-Verlag Gert Wohlfahrt, Duisburg/München 1968 * Sonja Schürmann: ''Düsseldorf, Eine moderne Landeshauptstadt mit 700jähriger Geschichte und Kultur''. 1. Aufl., DuMont Kunst-Reiseführer, Köln 1988 * Hermann Smeets: ''Villa Bilici. Düsseldorf-Bilk früher und heute''. 1. Aufl., herausgegeben von der Stadt-Sparkasse Düsseldorf, Triltsch Druck und Verlag, Düsseldorf 1983 * Hugo Weidenhaupt: ''Kleine Geschichte der Stadt Düsseldorf''. 4. Aufl., Verlag L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1968

References

External links

Go-Bilk

Websites from Bilk at Duesselgo.de

Bilker Heimatfreunde

Stadtteilinfos

Katholische Pfarrgemeinde St. Martin Bilk-Friedrichstadt

Evangelische Friedens-Kirchengemeinde Bilk-Unterbilk-Friedrichstadt

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dusseldorf-Bilk Bilk, Düsseldorf Bilk