Bielefeld

Related Topics:
Bielefeld

Bielefeld is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located at 52° N, 8.5 E on both the western and eastern slopes of the Teutoburg Forest. Population: 329,000. The current mayor is Eberhard David.

The name Bielefeld is derived from the old name bileveld, which means "hilly field". The city separates the two main ridges of the Northern and Southern Teutoburg Forest from each other. The centre of Bielefeld is situated on the eastern side of the Teutoburg Forest, but the modern city incorporates boroughs on the opposite side and on the hilltops.

History

Bielefeld was founded in 1214 by Count Hermann IV von Ravensberg in order to guard a pass crossing the Teutoburg Forest. A great castle, the Sparrenburg, was built in the middle of the medieval town - it remained impregnable through the Middle Ages. The castle no longer looks as it did in the medieval period: it decayed during the 18th and 19th centuries and was restored in 1879.

In the 15th century Bielefeld was a minor member of the Hanseatic League. Later it began to trade in linen and indeed became famous as "the town of linen". Major industries in Bielefeld currently include food processing, home appliance manufacture, information technology, and various heavy industries. Bielefeld is also the seat of the two largest Protestant social welfare establishments (Diakonie) in Europe, the von Bodelschwingsche Anstalten Bethel and the Evangelisches Johanneswerk.

Bielefeld has had a university since 1969. Among its first professors was the notable contemporary German sociologist Niklas Luhmann. Other institutions of higher education in Bielefeld are the Theological Seminary Bethel (Kirchliche Hochschule Bethel) and a Fachhochschule (see Fachhochschule). Among important cultural institutions for the region and beyond are the art museum (Kunsthalle) and the Rudolf Oetker concert hall (Rudolf-Oetker-Halle).

Urban Districts

In 1973 the first villages on the opposite side of the Teutoburg Forest were incorporated. The current districts of the city are: Bielefeld-Mitte (downtown), Brackwede, Dornberg, Gadderbaum, Heepen, Jöllenbeck, Quelle, Schildesche, Senne, Sennestadt, Stieghorst, and Ummeln.

Traffic

Two major autobahns, the A2 and A33, intersect at the south east of Bielefeld. The Ostwestfalen-Damm expressway connects the two parts of the city naturally divided by the Teutoburg Forest. The main railroad station of Bielefeld is part of the German ICE high-speed railroad system. Bielefeld has a small airstrip in the Senne district, but is mainly served by the two larger airports nearby, Paderborn-Lippstadt and Münster-Osnabrück.

Bielefeld has a well developed public transport system, served mainly by the companies moBiel (formerly Stadtwerke Bielefeld - Verkehrsbetriebe) and BVO. Beside buses, there is a subway system with 4 major subway lines and also local overland trains connecting different parts of the city and nearby counties.

Sights

The castle Sparrenburg is the best known landmark and the emblem of Bielefeld. It was built between 1240–1250 by Count Ludwig von Ravensberg. The 37 m (121 ft) high tower and the catacombs of the castle are open to the public.

The Old City Hall (Altes Rathaus) was built in 1904 and is today the seat of the mayor of the city. On its facade can be found various architectural styles, including elements of the Gothic style and of the Renaissance. Most of the city's current administration operates from the neighboring New City Hall (Neues Rathaus).

The City Theater (Stadttheater) is part of the same constructional unit as the Old City Hall, and was also built in 1904. It has a notable Jugendstil facade. It is the biggest theater in the city.

The Altstädter Nicolaikirche is the oldest city church of Bielefeld. It is a Gothic hall church with a height of 81.5 m (267 ft) which has existed in its current form since 1340. The church was founded in 1236 by the Bishop of Paderborn, and was enlarged at the beginning of the 14th century. Three times a day, a carillon can be heard. The most valuable treasure of this church is a carved altar from Antwerp, decorated with 250 carved figures. The building includes a small museum, showing the history of the church up to World War II.

The city's second biggest church is the Neustädter Marienkirche, an early Gothic hall church dating from 1293. It has a height of 78 m (256 ft) and a length of 52 m (161 ft). In terms of art history, this building is considered the most precious in the city. It was the starting point of the Protestant Reformation in Bielefeld in 1553. The church has a valuable wing-altar with 13 pictures, known as the Marienaltar. The original baroque spires were destroyed in World War II, and were replaced by two Gothic spires with an unusual spiky shape.

Trivia

The original name of the Teutoburg Forest was Osning. During the rise of German nationalism around 1848/1849, people became aware of the reference in Tacitus's Annals I 60, which refers to a defeat of the Roman army at saltus Teutoburgiensis. The similarity resulted in the renaming for "patriotic" reasons, while the actual place was about 40 km (25 miles) north, near Osnabrück. The details of what is known as the Varus Battle are currently subject to archaeological debates.
The altarpiece of the Bielefeld church Neustädter Marienkirche from around 1400 is among the most prominent masterpieces of artwork of the German Middle Ages. Two of the altarpieces, The Flagellation and The Crucifixion are now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Being a strategically highly important point of the traffic connection between Ruhrgebiet and Berlin, the ten tonne Grand Slam bomb, the largest conventional bomb of World War II, was dropped by the No. 617 Squadron of the British Royal Air Force on the railroad viaduct of Bielefeld shortly before Germany surrendered. The viaduct has been rebuilt with a different design.
Among German netizens, especially on the Usenet, a running gag is the claim that Bielefeld does not exist. This is known as the "Bielefeld-Verschwörung".
It is twinned with Concarneau, France

External links