Euskirchen (; Ripuarian: ''Öskerche'') is a town in

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, capital of the district Euskirchen. While Euskirchen resembles a modern shopping town, it also has a history dating back over 700 years, having been granted town status in 1302. As of December 2007, it had a population of 55,446. Its local football club is called TSC Euskirchen.

Culture

Parts of the ancient town wall, and three of its defensive towers, are still standing. Tourists are also attracted to Euskirchen due to the proximity of two large cities,

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 ...

and

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

, to the northeast, and the hills of the

Eifel The Eifel (; , ) is a low mountain range in western Germany, eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Com ...

region to the south. It is also the birthplace of

Emil Fischer Hermann Emil Louis Fischer (; 9 October 1852 – 15 July 1919) was a German chemist and List of Nobel laureates in Chemistry, 1902 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He discovered the Fischer esterification. He also developed the Fisch ...

, born 1852, who won the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

in Chemistry in 1902. The local theatre in The Emil-Fischer-Gymnasium offers a wide variety of cultural events. The City Forum and the Parkhotel Euskirchen also contribute to the town's cultural offerings. The word Euskirchen means ''Kirche auf der Aue'' ("church on riverside lowland"). The Martinskirche is the oldest church in Euskirchen. Biggest local sports clubs in Euskirchen are the ''TSC Euskirchen'', ''LGO Euskirchen/Erftstadt'' and ''Lauf Club Euskirchen''. Sports facilities are the '' Erftstadion'', gym ''Ohm-Mirgel'', ''Jahnhalle'', ''Willi-Maurer-Halle'', gym '' Emil-Fischer-Gymnasium'', ''Sportanlage'' ''Im Auel'' (since 2021 ''Heinz-Flohe-Sportpark'') and gym '' Marienschule''.

Twin towns – sister cities

Euskirchen is twinned with: * Basingstoke, England, United Kingdom (1986) * Charleville-Mézières, France (1964)

Industry and Commerce

Euskirchen has a diversified and balanced economic structure and can therefore provide jobs for a large catchment area. Euskirchen is a rural town with large, open fields serving agricultural purposes.

Sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and that is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together with ...

s are widely cultivated, and Euskirchen has been home to a sugar factory ( Pfeifer & Langen) since 1879. Until a few decades ago, a further important branch of industry was cloth manufacturing, but this was unable to survive due to competition from large international corporations. Well-known industrial enterprises (e.g.

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/con ...

, Miele) are located within the town's industrial and commercial sites. These can also offer attractive possibilities to new enterprises. The town's central location and good road and rail links to the international transport network are important factors in this context. The two largest industrial and commercial sites in Euskirchen, accounting for a total of 21,000 jobs between them, are: * IPAS ("IndustriePark Am Silberberg") with four million m², of which 3.6 m² million lie within the boundary of the town of Euskirchen * EURO-Park (located between Euskirchen and Roitzheim) with 1.5 million m². At IPAS, in the districts Wüschheim/Großbüllesheim, the consumer goods corporation

has a production plant as well as a warehouse from which it conducts its logistics operations all over the world. At EURO-Park the German company Nestlé Purina PetCare (pet food) and the "T-Versand" division of

Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. It was formed in 199 ...

have their headquarters, the sugar factory Pfeifer & Langen is based at EURO-Park and the building materials chain Mobau ("Moderner Baubedarf") – which has now merged into Eurobaustoff – was established. Immediately adjacent to "Industriepark IPAS" is the "PrimeSite Rhine Region", an area reserved exclusively for major investors. With a total area of 205

hectares The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. A ...

, which is equivalent to about 300 football fields, the "PrimeSite Rhine Region" is the first unbuilt and available industrial and commercial site of this size in

to date. Around 85 percent (177 hectares) of the site lies within the boundary of the town of Euskirchen, while about 15 percent (28 hectares) belong to the municipality of Weilerswist. The already well developed large area will be reserved up to 2019 for space-intensive large-scale projects in excess of 80 hectares. It is being marketed internationally by the state economic development agency NRW.INVEST.

Notable people

(1852–1919), chemist, 1902 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry for his work on sugar and purine syntheses Emil-fischer

* Karl Eschweiler (1886–1936), a Catholic theologian and religious philosopher * Willi Graf (1918–1943), member of the resistance group

White Rose The White Rose (, ) was a Nonviolence, non-violent, intellectual German resistance to Nazism, resistance group in Nazi Germany which was led by five students and one professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, University of Munich ...

* Heinz Flohe (1948–2013), former

Germany national football team The Germany national football team () represents Germany in men's international Association football, football and played its first match in 1908. The team is governed by the German Football Association (''Deutscher Fußball-Bund''), founded ...

player ( world champion 1974) * Silke Rottenberg (born 1972), former

player * Bettina Wiegmann (born 1971), former

player * Sonja Fuss (born 1978), former

player * Sebastian Schlemmer (born 1978), actor * Andreas Wolff (born 1991), handball goalkeeper * Erdoğan Yeşilyurt (born 1993), professional footballer for

Antalyaspor Antalyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional multi-sport club based in Antalya, southern Turkey. The club's colours are red and white. The association football, football side play their home matches at the Antalya Stadium. In Turkey, the cl ...

* Lukas Klünter (born 1996), professional footballer for Waldhof Mannheim and the German National Football Team

References

External links

{{Authority control Towns in North Rhine-Westphalia Euskirchen (district)