DORTMUND

Dortmund belongs to the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen and is located in the Western part of Germany. Dortmund used to be an important hanseatic city. Today Dortmund is not only the economic- and trade-center of Westfalen it also is the biggest city of this region and the Ruhr area.

Dortmund is an industrial metropolis as well as a center of service and technology: Formerly known for steel, coal and beer, Dortmund is now the center for the insurance industry and retail businesses in the fields of logistics, information- and microsystems technology. Dortmund is the most important traffic junction for the eastern Ruhr area and a well-known attraction for people from mostly the eastern rural region.
Famous landmarks of the city are the Reinoldi Church, the Dortmunder U, and the Florian Tower. The city’s figurehead of sports is the soccer team Borussia Dortmund. The Old Town Hall was built in 1899. The layout was done by the head of the municipal planning and building control Friedrich Kullrich who was inspired by the neo-Renaissance era. As many other buildings of Dortmund, the Town Hall was heavily damaged during the Second World War. You can find the saying “So fast as düörpm“ between two of the windows on the west side of the building, which means “As firm as Dortmund”. This saying evokes the Big Dortmunder Feud in the 14th century, in which the city successfully maintained its position against a force of more than 1.200 knights.