Eschweiler (German pronunciation:[ˈɛʃvaɪlɐ],
Ripuarian: Eischwiele) is a municipality in the district of
Aachen in
North Rhine-Westphalia in
Germany on the river
Inde, near the German-Belgian-Dutch border, and about 15 kilometres (9 mi) east of
Aachen and 50 kilometres (31 mi) west of
Cologne.
History
Celts (first ore mining) and Romans (roads and villae rusticae).
828 First mentioned by Einhard, the biographer of
Charlemagne.
1960s Complete modernization of Eschweiler's downtown and regulation of the Inde in order to prevent the regular inundations.
1972 Reorganization of administration in North Rhine-Westphalia: Eschweiler increases overnight from some 38,000 inhabitants to about 55,000 by receiving the villages Dürwiß, Laurenzberg, Lohn and Weisweiler. Kinzweiler, after 114 years, comes back.
1970s Eschweiler loses seven quarters because of the brown-coal opencast mining: Erberich, Hausen, Langendorf, Laurenzberg, Lohn, Lürken and Pützlohn.
the Old Townhall (which is now the restaurant and conference wing of a hotel)
two pilgrim churches
main parish church of St. Peter und Paul with the Leather Pietà from 1360
the chapel
dwelling house of the former
Cistercians nunnery of St. Jöris, skull relic in St. Jöris' church, baroque altar in Hehlrath's church
Old Mill of Gressenich.
Also present is a series of castle and manors:
Castle of Eschweiler (only three towers from the 13th century are left)
Castle of Kambach (beautiful
water castle besides the golf course)
Castle of Kinzweiler
Castle of Nothberg
Castle of Palant
Castle of Röthgen
Castle of Weisweiler (only the towers and the outer walls are left)
Manor of Broich
Manor of Drimborn
Manor of Nothberg
Culture
Eschweiler has three municipal halls (Dürwiß, Kinzweiler and Weisweiler), a cinema, a municipal art collection and the so-called Culture Centre Talbahnhof for cabaret and music events. Every summer the Eschweiler Music Festival EMF takes place. People go to the numerous pubs around the Market Place and in the old-town alley Schnellengasse as well as to the large-scale discothèque Klejbor's.
Carnival
Eschweiler is a center of Rhineland
carnival. It has more than 20 active
carnival clubs, and every Monday before Lent it has the third of Germany's longest carnival processions.
Hemmel on Äed (i.e. Heaven and Earth) mashed potatoes with stewed apples and fried blood pudding or fried
panhas
Rice pies, apricot pies, pear pies ("Schwatze Flaam") - 20 cm in diameter; the pear pies, also called black pies, are traditionally served at funerals
Horse and horse by-products
Medical care
Eschweiler is home to the St. Antonius Hospital with 443 beds and 13 departments. Every year, there are some 15,000 in-patients and 25,000 out-patients. The Euregio Breast Centre is part of the hospital.
Sports
Soccer, ice hockey, golf, open-air swimming pool, indoor swimming pool, horse sports, handball.
Industry
Chemicals and goods are the main products, while it also has a lignite-powered power plant rated at 2.8 GW.
Science
The
lignite (brown coal) deposits in the region are former
Miocene swamp forest dominated by Castanopsis, a type of chinkapin. Such plants do not occur naturally in Europe. A type of
fossil wood has been described from logs found in Eschweiler mines. It was named Castanoxylon eschweilerense in reference to the town; the name would translate as "Eschweiler chinkapin wood", as it probably belonged to Castanopsis but perhaps to some other
genus of chinkapin.
Transport
Eschweiler has six railway stations: Eschweiler Hauptbahnhof (central station), Eschweiler-Aue (from 2009), Eschweiler-West, Eschweiler-Talbahnhof, Eschweiler-Nothberg, Eschweiler-Weisweiler and Nothberg (till 2009). Eschweiler-St. Jöris is planned.
Eschweiler has two bus terminals and bus lines in every quarter and in its whole vicinity.
Autobahn exits on the A 4 include Eschweiler-West, Eschweiler-Ost and Weisweiler. The city can be reached also by three exits on the A 44: Aldenhoven, Alsdorf and Broichweiden.
August Thyssen (1842–1926), founded the Thyssen-Foussol & Co. in Duisburg in 1867, and later on other steelworks. The company entered the
ThyssenKrupp AG in 1997
Joseph Thyssen (1844–1915), industrialist and the younger brother of August Thyssen