Bottrop ( [ˈbɔtʁɔp]) is a city in west central Germany, on the Rhine-Herne Canal, in North Rhine-Westphalia. Located in the Ruhr industrial area, Bottrop adjoins Essen, Oberhausen, Gladbeck and Dorsten. The city had been a coal-mining and rail center and contains factories producing coal-tar derivatives, chemicals, textiles, and machinery. Bottrop grew as a mining center beginning in the 1860s, was chartered as a city in 1921, and bombed during the Oil Campaign of World War II. In 1975 it unified with the neighbour communities of Gladbeck and Kirchhellen, but Gladbeck left it in 1976, leading to Kirchhellen becoming a district of Bottrop as Bottrop-Kirchhellen.
The total area of the municipal territory is about 101 square kilometres (39 square miles). The longest north-south distance is 17 kilometres (11 miles), and from west to east 9 kilometres (5.6 miles). The highest peak within the city's territory is 78 metres (256 feet), the lowest one being 26 metres (85 feet) above sea level.
Bottrop is divided into 3 boroughs, they are: Bottrop-Mitte (Bottrop-Center), Bottrop-Süd (Bottrop South) and Bottrop-Kirchhellen, each one having a borough representation and a borough ruler.
These boroughs are further subdivided into city parts, partly named after their traditional name, while the newly built parts are only recently named :
Bottrop-Mitte: Eigen, Fuhlenbrock, Stadtmitte
Bottrop-Süd: Batenbrock, Boy, Ebel, Lehmkuhle, Vonderort, Gartenstadt Welheim (Garden city Welheim) and Welheimer Mark
Bottrop-Kirchhellen: Ekel, Feldhausen, Grafenwald, Hardinghausen, Holthausen, Im Loh, Kirchhellen, Kuhberg, Overhagen
For statistical reasons, Bottrop is also divided into statistical boroughs. They are (with their official numbering)
11 Altstadt
12 Nord-Ost (Northeast)
13 Süd-West (Southwest)
21 Fuhlenbrock-Heide (Fuhlenbrock-Heath)
22 Fuhlenbrock-Wald (Fuhlenbrock-Forest)
From 1919 until 1976 Kirchhellen was its own town. From 1976 until 1978 it was a part of "GlaBotKi"(Gladbeck, Bottrop, Kirchhellen). In 1978 Kirchhellen became part of Bottrop.
Most of Kirchhellen is Catholic (approx. 65%) - there are three churches there. There is one Lutheran church.
Theaters, museums and buildings
Main Post Office, constructed 1921-1923.
The Quadrat is a Museum housing permanent exhibitis on local history and displaying works by Josef Albers as well as many temporary exhibitions.
City Hall (Neo-Renaissance 1910–1916) is regarded as the emblem of the city.
Schloss Beck theme park and castle (late baroque period 1766–1777)
Villa Dickmann, constructed 1901–1903 (Art Nouveau)
Alte Apotheke (Old Pharmacy, Wilhelminian style 1895)
Catholic churches
Heilige Familie
Heilig Kreuz, built 1955–57, Windows by Georg Meistermann
Herz Jesu, built 1929
Liebfrauen
St. Antonius
St. Barbara
St. Bonifatius
St. Cyriakus, Propstei, built 1861/62 by Emil von Manger
St. Elisabeth, built 1954
St. Franziskus
St. Johannes Baptist (BOT-Boy)
St. Johannes der Täufer (BOT-Kirchhellen)
St. Joseph
St. Ludger
St. Mariä Himmelfahrt
St. Matthias
St. Michael
St. Paul
St. Peter
St. Pius
St. Suitbert, built 1955
Protestant churchesAuferstehungskirche
Friedenskirche
Gnadenkirche
Martin-Niemöller-Kirche
Martinskirche, erbaut 1884
Paul-Gerhardt-Kirche
Pauluskirche
Malakow-Turm (1872) of the coal mine Prosper II.
Coal Mining Tip Haniel with an open-air theater (Amphitheater) and the Kreuzweg designed by Tisa von der Schulenburg and Adolf Radecki and opened in 1995.
Saalbau, convention center
Alpincenter - the world's longest indoor ski slope
Tetraeder - a 50 m tall walkable steel tetrahedron, placed on a 90 m slag heap. It has been the town's landmark since its construction in 1995.
Movie Park Germany - theme park (in Bottrop-Kirchhellen)
Schloss Beck - castle turned into an amusement park (in Bottrop-Kirchhellen)
Indoor Skydiving Bottrop, a powerful vertical wind tunnel attracting skydivers from all over Europe
Since September 12, 2005 so called „Stolpersteine“ have been placed by artist Gunter Demnig all over the city in remembrance of the people deported and killed by the Nazis.
January: Festival Orgel PLUS (Music festival started in 1989)
February: Rose Monday Parade and Carnival
May: Horse Market
May: Asparagus - Farmers' Market in Kirchhellen
Brezelfest (Pretzel Festival) in Kirchhellen
May/June/July: Schützenfeste (marksmen festivals) of Bottrops marksmen companies (BSV Bottrop Batenbrock, BSV Bottrop Eigen, BSV Bottrop Fuhlenbrock, BSV Bottrop Vonderort, BSV Andreas Hofer, Alte Allgemeine Bürgerschützengesellschaft, BSV Bottrop Boy)
September: Michaelismarket.
Catholic: ~50% (19 churches)
Protestant (Lutheran): ~20% (8 churches)
Atheist/Agnostic: ~20%
Muslim: ~2%
Josef Albers, (1888-1976), painter, graphic artist, designer, art teacher
August Everding, (1928-1999), Director of the Hamburgische Staatsoper 1973-77, general director of the Bavarian State Theater rector)
Bernhard Korte, (born 1938), mathematician and computer scientist
Claus Spahn, (born 1940), journalist and author
Werner Münch, (born 1940), politician (CDU), Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt (1991-1993)
Andy Vine, (1948-1985), author and poet
Theo Jörgensmann (born 1948), jazz musician and composer
Paul Holz, (born 1952), former football player
Martin Honert, (born 1953), artist, professor at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts
Gisela Kinzel, (born 1961), athlete and Olympian
Sabine Gaudzinski-Windheuser, (born 1965), archaeologist
Kelly Trump, (born 1970), native Nicole Heyka, presenter and former porn actress
Ulla Kock am Brink (born 1961), television presenter
Da Hool (born 1968), (DJ and music producer)
Bottrop is twinned with:
Tourcoing, France, since 1967
Blackpool, England, United Kingdom
Berlin-Mitte, Germany, since 1983 (first with Berlin-Wedding, which merged with Berlin-Tiergarten and Berlin-Mitte)
Veszprém, Hungary, since 1987
Merseburg, Germany, since 1989
Gliwice, Poland
