Erkrath

Erkrath
Coat of arms
Erkrath
Location of Erkrath within Mettmann district
Coordinates:
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Düsseldorf
District	Mettmann
Government
• Mayor	Christoph Schultz (CDU)
Area
• Total	26.89 km2 (10.38 sq mi)
Population (2013-12-31)
• Total	43,639
• Density	1,600/km2 (4,200/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	40699
Dialling codes	0211, 02104, 02129, 02103
Vehicle registration	ME
Website	www.erkrath.de

Erkrath is a town in the district of Mettmann, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Geography

Erkrath is situated on the river Düssel, directly east of Düsseldorf and west of Wuppertal, close to the famous Neandertal. It has two stations, Erkrath station, which is served by Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn line S 8, and Erkrath Nord station, which is served by S-Bahn line S 28, both at 20 minute intervals.

History

In that part of Neandertal, which is located in Erkrath, in the summer of 1856, quarry workers discovered the fossilised remains of what became known as the Neanderthal man or Homo Neanderthalensis in Feldhof cave. The name Erkrath was first mentioned in 1148. Erkrath received town rights in 1966. In 1975, the municipality of Hochdahl was incorporated into Erkrath. As well its former borough Unterbach was incorporated into Düsseldorf. Only a part of Unterbach called Unterfeldhaus remained as now a borough of its own with Erkrath. Erkrath today has three local parts: Erkrath, Hochdahl and Unterfeldhaus.

Gallery

• Heilig-Geist-Kirche-Erkrath-Hochdahl-Sandheide-3702.jpg

  Heilig-Geist-Kirche (Erkrath)

• Neanderkirche Erkrath 02.JPG

  Neanderkirche (Erkrath)

Twin towns

• Cergy-Pontoise, France
• West Lancashire, England
• Leinefelde in Thuringia (friendship)
• Port-de-Paix, Haiti (sponsorship)

Notable people

• Klaus Allofs, former German footballer
• Thomas Allofs, former German footballer
• Toni Turek former German footballer (World Champion 1954)

External links

• Official site (German)
• Homepage of the Neanderthal Museum (German)
• Homepage of the Lokschuppen Museum (German)