Kalkar () is a municipality in the district of Kleve, 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 Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It is located near 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 ...

, approx. 10 km south-east of Cleves. The catholic church St. Nicolai has preserved one of the most significant sacral inventories from the late Middle Ages in Germany.

History

Kalkar was founded by Dirk VI of Cleves in 1230 and received city rights in 1242. It was one of the seven "capitals" of Cleves (called Kleve), until the line of the

Duchy of Cleves The Duchy of Cleves (; ) was a state of the Holy Roman Empire which emerged from the medieval . It was situated in the northern Rhineland on both sides of the Lower Rhine, around its capital Cleves and the towns of Wesel, Kalkar, Xanten, Emme ...

died out in 1609, whereupon the city went over to the

Margraviate of Brandenburg The Margraviate of Brandenburg () was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806 that, having electoral status although being quite poor, grew rapidly in importance after inheriting the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 and then came ...

Marie of Burgundy, Duchess of Cleves Mary of Burgundy, Duchess of Cleves (1393 – 30 October 1466) was the second child of John the Fearless and Margaret of Bavaria, and an elder sister of Philip the Good. Born in Dijon, she became the second wife of Adolph I, Duke of Cleves, Adolp ...

retired to Monreberg castle in Kalkar, where she founded a Dominican convent in 1455. Under her influence the city bloomed and artists were attracted to the favorable climate for cultural investment. She died at Monreberg castle in 1463.

Air base

The

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

470TH Air Base Squadron supports the NATO Joint Air Power Competence Center (JAPCC) in Kalkar and the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

CAOC in Uedem. The 470th is not located in Kalkar however.

Nuclear reactor

Between 1957 and 1991, West Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands pursued an ambitious plan for a fast breeder nuclear reactor, the a prototype reactor, SNR-300, near Kalkar. Construction of the SNR-300 began in April 1973. In the wake of large anti-nuclear protests at Wyhl and Brokdorf, demonstrations against the SNR-300 reactor escalated in the mid-1970s. A large demonstration in September 1977 involved a "massive police operation that included the complete closure of autobahns in northern Germany and identity checks of almost 150,000 people". Construction of the Kalkar reactor was completed in the middle of 1985, but a new state government was clearly against the project, and opposition mounted following the

Chernobyl disaster On 26 April 1986, the no. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near Pripyat, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine), exploded. With dozens of direct casualties, it is one of only ...

in April 1986. In March 1991, the German federal government said that the SNR-300 would not be put into operation; the project costs, originally estimated at $150 to $200 million, escalated to a final cost of about $4 billion (equivalent to about $B in ). The

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a Nuclear fission, fission nuclear chain reaction. They are used for Nuclear power, commercial electricity, nuclear marine propulsion, marine propulsion, Weapons-grade plutonium, weapons ...

plant has since been turned into Kern-Wasser Wunderland, an amusement park with a rollercoaster and several other rides and restaurants.

Novel

In the science fiction novel " The Moon Maid",

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American writer, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best known for creating the characters Tarzan (who appeared in ...

used "Kalkars" as the name for a malevolent fictional race living on the Moon and later invading Earth.

Gallery

Kalkar - Kalkarer Mühle 05 ies.jpg, Windmill of Kalkar Kalkar Hanselaerstraße 30 PM16.jpg, Gothic gable in Kalkar Kalkar 12 ies.jpg, Municipal Museum Kalkar Kalkar Kesselstraße 9 Evangelische Kirche PM18-03.jpg, Evangelic church

References

{{Authority control Populated places on the Rhine Anti–nuclear power movement Anti-nuclear movement in Germany Kleve (district)