Düren (district)

Düren
—  District  —
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Adm. region	Cologne
Capital	Düren
Area
– Total	941.15 km2 (363.4 sq mi)
Population (31 December 2010)[1]
– Total	267,712
– Density	284.5/km2 (736.7/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
– Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Vehicle registration	DN
Website	http://www.kreis-dueren.de

Düren is a Kreis (district) in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Heinsberg, Neuss, Rhein-Erft-Kreis, Euskirchen and Aachen.

History

The district was created in 1972 by merging the former districts of Jülich and Düren. Both districts date back to 1816 when the new Prussian province Rhineland was created. Before the Napoleonic Wars all of the area belonged to the duchy of Jülich.

Geography

Geographically it covers both the lowlands of the Niederrheinische Bucht as well as the hills of the Eifel. The district has rich Lignite (brown coal) deposits, which is used in open pit mining. Another big industry is paper production, which dates back to the second part of the 16th century. The main river in the district is the Rur.

Coat of arms

The coat of arms shows the lion from the city of Jülich in the upper part. In the bottom it has a paper roll with the capital letter D for Düren, because the paper industry has long history. The coat of arms were granted in 1942.

Towns and municipalities

Towns	Municipalities
Düren Heimbach Jülich Linnich Nideggen	Aldenhoven Hürtgenwald Inden Kreuzau Langerwehe	Merzenich Niederzier Nörvenich Titz Vettweiß

Sister County

Düren has a partnership with Dorchester County in Maryland.

References

1. ^ "Amtliche Bevölkerungszahlen" (in German). Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW. 31 December 2010. http://www.it.nrw.de/statistik/a/daten/amtlichebevoelkerungszahlen/index.html. 

External links

Media related to Kreis Düren at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website (German)

Coordinates: 50°50′N 6°30′E / 50.83°N 6.5°E / 50.83; 6.5