Wuppertal

Wuppertal (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and 17th-largest in Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of Elberfeld, Barmen, Ronsdorf, Cronenberg and Vohwinkel, and was initially called "Barmen-Elberfeld" before adopting its present name in 1930. It is the capital and largest city of the Bergisches Land.

The city straddles the densely populated banks of the River Wupper, a tributary of the Rhine. Wuppertal is located between the Ruhr area to the north, Düsseldorf to the west, and Cologne to the southwest, and over time has grown together with Solingen, Remscheid and Hagen. The city is known for its steep slopes, its woods and parks, and for being the greenest city in Germany, with two-thirds green space of the total municipal area.

The Wupper Valley was, along with the Ore Mountains and before the Ruhr, the first highly industrialized region of Germany, which resulted in the construction of the Wuppertal Suspension Railway in the then independent cities of Elberfeld and Barmen. The increasing demand for coal from the textile mills and blacksmith shops from those cities encouraged the expansion of the nearby Ruhr. Wuppertal still is a major industrial centre, being home to industries such as textiles, metallurgy, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, electronics, automobiles, rubber, vehicles and printing equipment. Aspirin originates from Wuppertal, patented in 1897 by Bayer, as does the Vorwerk Kobold vacuum cleaner. The Wuppertal Institute and the European Institute for International Economic Relations are located in the city. Barmen was the birthplace of Friedrich Engels.

Due to the city's length, the Bergish varieties of the Limburgish language called Platt are spoken in its western communities like Vohwinkel, but not in the city's eastern communities like Langerfeld where the Southern varieties of Westphalian language are spoken and the city is called Wupperdaal by locals.

Geography

Wuppertal is located in the Bergisches Land region of North Rhine-Westphalia. The city is situated in the valley of the Wupper river, which flows through the city from east to west and is a tributary of the Rhine. Wuppertal is characterised by its steep hills and narrow valleys, giving the city a distinctive topography.

Wuppertal spans an area of 168.41 square kilometers (65.02 sq mi), with elevations ranging from 100 meters (330 ft) above sea level in the river valleys to over 350 meters (1,150 ft) in the surrounding uplands. The highest point is the Lichtscheid hill at 350 meters (1,148 ft). Wuppertal is bordered by several municipalities, including Solingen, Remscheid, Hagen, and Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis.

The city's unique geography led to the development of the Wuppertal Schwebebahn (Wuppertal Suspension Railway), an elevated monorail that follows the course of the Wupper river through much of the city. The surrounding landscape is marked by mixed forests, agricultural land, and numerous parks, including the and the Botanischer Garten Wuppertal.

Wuppertal is part of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region, one of the largest population centres in Europe.

History

Wuppertal in its present borders was formed in 1929 by merging the industrial cities of Barmen and Elberfeld along with the communities of Vohwinkel, Ronsdorf, Cronenberg, Langerfeld and Beyenburg. The initial name Barmen-Elberfeld was changed in a 1930 referendum to Wuppertal ("Wupper Valley"). The new city was administered as part of Prussia's Rhine Province.

Uniquely for Germany, it is a "linear city", owing to the steep hillsides along the river Wupper. Its highest hill is the Lichtscheid, which is above sea level. The dominant urban centres Elberfeld (historic commercial centre) and Barmen (more industrial) have formed a continuous urbanized area since 1850. During the succeeding decades, "Wupper-Town" became the dominant industrial agglomeration of northwestern Germany. During the 20th century, this conurbation had been surpassed by Cologne, Düsseldorf and the Ruhr area, all with a more favourable topography.

From 5 July 1933 to 19 January 1934 the Kemna concentration camp was established in Wuppertal. It was one of the early Nazi concentration camps, created by the Nazi Party to incarcerate their political opponents upon gaining power in 1933. The camp was established in a former factory on the Wupper in the Kemna neighborhood of the Barmen part of Wuppertal. Protestant Christians opposed to the so called German Christians adopted the Barmen Declaration in Wuppertal in 1934.

By order of 10 October 1938, the 1st Light Division of the German Army was formed in Wuppertal, which in September 1939 took part in the invasion of Poland which started World War II. During the war, Nazi Germany operated a Nazi prison, two forced labour subcamps of the prison in Remscheid-Lüttringhausen and an SS construction brigade in the city. The prisoners of the SS construction brigade were Poles, Russians, French, Czechs, Romanians, Hungarians, and Greeks. About 40% of buildings in the city were destroyed by Allied bombing, as were many other German cities and industrial centres (see Bombing of Wuppertal in World War II). However, a large number of historic sites have been preserved, such as:

Ölberg, literally "Oil mountain", Germany's largest original working class district, is protected as a historic monument. The name came about during the 1920s as the district continued using oil lamps while the surrounding bourgeois residential quarters were electrified. In traditional use, the name "Ölberg" refers to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Brill is one of Germany's largest districts of Gründerzeit villas, i.e. middle class mansions built by industrial entrepreneurs during the second half of the 19th century.

The US 78th Infantry Division under Major General Edwin P. Parker Jr. captured Wuppertal against scant resistance on 16 April 1945.Stanton, Shelby, World War II Order of Battle: An Encyclopedic Reference to U.S. Army Ground Forces from Battalion through Division, 1939–1946, Stackpole Books (Revised Edition 2006), p. 147 Wuppertal became a part of the British Zone of Occupation, and subsequently part of the new state of North Rhine-Westphalia in West Germany.

Population

Wuppertal currently has a population of about 355,000. The number of inhabitants more than doubled in 1929 as a result of the Barmen–Elberfeld merger. The economic boom of the 1950s and 60s saw the establishment of new industry headquarters and with it an influx of workers, including migrant workers from Turkey, Greece and Italy. Population numbers during these times of as-yet unparalleled growth peaked at about 423,000 in 1963; in the 1970s, a period of steady decline followed in the wake of industrial losses.

As of 31 December 2022, the largest groups of foreign residents were:

From country Number of residents11,5757,4156,8706,1305,8705,3872,8352,4632,1971,7241,5931,4391,3541,2731,2281,147

Main sights In total, Wuppertal possesses over 4,500 buildings classified as national monuments, most exemplifying styles such as Neoclassicism, Eclecticism, Historicism, Art Nouveau/Jugendstil and Bauhaus. The American TV station CNN recommended Wuppertal as one of 20 places worldwide to visit in the year 2020 because of the Schwebebahn, the architectural diversity and the Nordbahntrasse, a cycle route across the city 2020.CNN: 20 places to visit in 2020 ) In 2031, Wuppertal will host the Federal Horticultural Show 2031.

Main sights include:

Schwebebahn or floating tram. One of the city's greatest attractions is the globally unique suspended monorail Wuppertaler Schwebebahn, which was established in 1901. The tracks are above the streets and above the Wupper. Wuppertaler Schwebebahn Kaiserwagen A guided tour of the suspension railway in a special tram. Wuppertal Opera (Opernhaus Wuppertal).

Concerthall Stadthalle, a fine piece of turn-of-the-century architecture with outstanding acoustics. Home of the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra (Sinfonieorchester Wuppertal) (Stadthalle). Wuppertal Dance Theatre (Tanztheater Wuppertal), a world-famous centre of modern dance founded by the choreographer Pina Bausch. Engels-Haus, 18th century-architecturally typical of the region, it houses a permanent display of materials associated with the co-founder of modern Communism, Friedrich Engels. Wuppertal Zoo, a large, nicely landscaped zoo. Botanischer Garten Wuppertal, a municipal botanical garden. Arboretum Burgholz, an extensive arboretum. Von der Heydt Museum is an important art gallery with works from the 17th century to the present time. The first of Picasso's works that ever appeared in public was displayed here. Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden, a sculpture park with exhibition hall, founded by sculptor Tony Cragg. Alte Kirche (Wuppertal-Langerfeld), 18th-century Protestant church

Education

Four institutions of higher education are in Wuppertal. University of Wuppertal (Bergische Universität Wuppertal) FOM University of Applied Sciences Cologne University of Music, section Wuppertal College of Theology, Wuppertal/Bethel (Theologische Zentrum Wuppertal)

The privately financed Junior Uni is a unique German initiative to educate youth from the age of 4 to 18 in science outside the school program.

Politics

Mayor The most recent mayoral election was held on 14 September 2025, with a runoff held on 28 September and of the SPD was elected to the post. The results of the election were as follows:

City council The Wuppertal city council governs the city alongside the mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 14 September 2025, and the results were as follows:

! colspan=2| Party ! Votes ! % ! ± ! Seats ! ± |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Social Democratic Party (SPD) | 35,884 | 28.8 | 0.1 | 24 | 1 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Christian Democratic Union (CDU) | 27,649 | 22.2 | 2.0 | 18 | 2 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Alternative for Germany (AfD) | 21,386 | 17.1 | 11.0 | 14 | 9 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne) | 14,249 | 11.4 | 8.2 | 9 | 7 |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| The Left (Die Linke) | 10,511 | 8.4 | New | 7 | New |- | bgcolor=| | align=left| Free Democratic Party (FDP) | 5,282 | 4.2 | 3.0 | 3 | 3 |- | bgcolor}=| | align=left| Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) | 3,128 | 2.5 | New | 2 | New

Wuppertal

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