Location

Changeable, vibrant and cosmopolitan - that is Essen, the city in the heart of the Ruhr region. It has around 1,160 years of eventful history behind it. This makes Essen older than Berlin, Munich or Dresden. Founded around 850 by Bishop Altfrid as a monastery for daughters of the Saxon aristocracy, Essen grew in size thanks to coal, Krupp and steel and made the city one of the world's most important centres of the coal and steel industry. But the days of black gold are long gone; today Essen is "European Capital of Culture" (2010), "European Green Capital" (2017), an attractive trade fair and science location and home to around 570,000 people.