Location, Short History, Sightseeing

Portrait of Münster


Location
Münster is located in the heart of Westphalia and is surrounded by flat green parkland. Only in the west of the City does the landscape rise to the gentle hills of the Baumberge. The surrounding area is mostly a rural region used mainly for agriculture. The industrial area of the Ruhr is almost on the doorstep, as is the green border with the Netherlands and the adjacent federal state of Lower Saxony.

Inhabitants: approx. 280,000 - area: approx. 302,8 km²

Short History of the City:
793  the Frisian monk Liudger establishes the monastery Mimigernaford
805  Liudger becomes bishop and Münster a bishopric
1068  the name Mimigernaford is changed to Monasterium
around 1170  Münster becomes a city with its own rights (Town Charter).
1368  Münster is officially mentioned for the first time as a member of the Hanseatic League.
1534/35  the reign and suppression of the Anabaptists
1648  the end of the Thirty Years War by signing the Peace Treaty of Westphalia
1660/61  Christoph Bernhard von Galen, popularly called Bishop of the Cannon, seizes and conquers the City.
1756-63  Münster is several times the scene of the Seven Years War.
1816  Münster becomes the capital of the Prussian province of Westphalia.
1848  Münster is connected to the Prussian railway network.
1940-45  about 90 percent of the City Centre is destroyed by air raids in World War II
since 1950  rebuilding and reconstruction work
1972  opening of the airport of Münster-Osnabrück
1998  Münster celebrates the anniversary of the Westphalian Peace Treaty with heads of state from all over Europe


Sightseeing

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