Monschau

Monschau
Slate-roofs of Monschau town centre and castle. The castle's courtyard in preperation for Monschau Open Air Klassik music festival
Monschau
Location of the town of Monschau within Aachen district
Coordinates	50°33′36″N 6°15′23″E / 50.56°N 6.25639°E / 50.56; 6.25639Coordinates: 50°33′36″N 6°15′23″E / 50.56°N 6.25639°E / 50.56; 6.25639
Administration
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Cologne
District	Aachen
Town subdivisions	7
Mayor	Magga Ritter (CDU)
Basic statistics
Area	94.620312003 km2 (36.533106706 sq mi)
Elevation	517 m  (1696 ft)
Population	12,443 (31 December 2010)[1]
- Density	132 /km2 (341 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	AC
Postal code	52156
Area code	02472
Website	www.monschau.de

Monschau (French: Montjoie) is a small resort town in the Eifel region of western Germany, located in the district Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia.

Geography

The town is located in the hills of the North Eifel, within the Hohes Venn – Eifel Nature Park in the narrow valley of the Rur river.

The historic town center has many preserved half-timbered houses and narrow streets have remained nearly unchanged for 300 years, making the town a popular tourist attraction nowadays. An open-air, classical music festival is staged annually at Burg Monschau. Historically the main industry of the town were cloth-mills.

History

History of Monschau (Montjoie)

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1100 —

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1198 - First written evidence of Monschau

1433 - Became the seat of the dukes of Jülich.

1543 - Besieged by Charles V

1609 - Became part of Palatinate-Neuburg.

1795 - Captured by the French

1815 - Became part of Prussia

1918 - Renamed "Monschau".

1972 - Town was enlarged

On the heights above the city is the castle Monschau, which dates back to the 13th century — in 1198 the first mention of Monschau was made. Starting in 1433 the castle was used as a seat of the dukes of Jülich. In 1543 Emperor Charles V besieged it as part of the Geldern Feud, captured it and plundered the town. However the castle stayed with Jülich until 1609, then it became part of Palatinate-Neuburg.

In 1795 the French captured the area, and under the name Montjoie made it the capital of a canton of the Roer département. After the area became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1815, Monschau became the capital of a district, the Kreis Montjoie.

During World War I some people argued that Monschau (or "Montjoie" as it was still called then) should be annexed to Belgium since it was historically a Walloon area that had been Germanized by the Prussians.^{[2][original research?]}

In 1918 William II, German Emperor, changed the name to Monschau. In 1972 the town was enlarged with the previous independent municipalities Höfen, Imgenbroich, Kalterherberg, Konzen, Mützenich and Rohren.

Notable residents

• Karl Wilhelm Scheibler (1820–1881), industrialist.
• Elwin Bruno Christoffel (1829–1900), physicist and mathematician.

Gallery

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  Historic center of Monschau at the Rur

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  Street in Monschau

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  View of Monschau taken from the hillside showing the typical town architecture and layout

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  Protestant Church in Monschau with the tower removed

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. 
2. ^ Finot, Jean. New York Times, May 30th, 1915

External links

Media related to Monschau at Wikimedia Commons

• Official site (German) (English)
• Official site of Monschau Music Festival (German)
• Official site for the borough of Höfen (German)