DE-3335112 Essen - Kulturstadt ‘culture city’

Essen is a city located in the centre of the Ruhr area, one of the largest urban areas in Europe  comprising eleven independent cities and four districts with some 5.3 million inhabitants. Essen itself is located on the River Ruhr with a population of approximately 567,000.  It is the 9th-largest city in Germany.  For the year 2010, Essen was the European Capital of Culture.

Essen was founded around 845 and it is historically linked to the centuries-old Krupp family iron works, Essen was one of Germany's most important coal and steel centres until the 1970s.

This postcard shows several important and interesting locations in Essen.  The large central panel shows Marktkirche, the first Protestant church in Essen.  The smaller panels show the following: 

Left top:  Baldeneysee, the largest of the reservoirs in the Ruhr area.  It is a major recreational area.

Left centre: The Essen Philharmonic Orchestra has been voted the best orchestra in Germany several times.

Bottom from left to right:

(a) The RWE Tower which houses RWE AG, the largest company registered only in Essen.  RWE AG is Germany's second-largest electric utility.

(b) Statue of Alfred Krupp

(c) The historic Hotel Handelshof

(d) The Zollverein Industrial Complex is the city's most famous landmark. The Shaft of this coal mine is considered an architectural and technical masterpiece, earning it a reputation as the "most beautiful coal mine in the world". UNESCO declared the Complex a World Heritage Site in 2001

Right top: The Villa Hügel was built in 1873 by industrial magnate Alfred Krupp. This is a 269-room mansion (8,100 m² or 87,190 sq ft) and the surrounding park of 28 ha (69.2 acres).

This postcard came from Monika (22 July 2014) Postcrossing.