Oberhausen

For other places with the same name, see Oberhausen (disambiguation).

Oberhausen
CentrO-Park in Oberhausen
Flag Coat of arms
Oberhausen
Coordinates: 51°33′0″N 06°51′0″E
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Düsseldorf
District	Urban districts of Germany
Government
• Lord Mayor	Klaus Wehling (SPD)
Area
• Total	77.04 km2 (29.75 sq mi)
Population (2013-12-31)
• Total	209,097
• Density	2,700/km2 (7,000/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	46001-46149
Dialling codes	0208
Vehicle registration	OB
Website	City of Oberhausen (de)

Oberhausen (German pronunciation: [ˈoːbɐhaʊzən]) is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg (c. 12 km) and Essen (c. 13 km). The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage. The city's Sea Life Centre was home to Paul the Octopus.

History

Oberhausen was named for its 1847 railway station which had taken its name from the Castle Oberhausen (German: Schloss Oberhausen). The new borough was formed in 1862 following inflow of people for the local coal mines and steel mills. Awarded town rights in 1874, Oberhausen absorbed several neighbouring boroughs like Alstaden, parts of Styrum and Dümpten in 1910. After becoming a city in 1901, Oberhausen incorporated the towns of Sterkrade and Osterfeld in 1929. The Ruhrchemie AG synthetic oil plant ("Oberhausen-Holten" or "Sterkrade/Holten") was a bombing target of the Oil Campaign of World War II, and the US Forces had reached the plant by April 4, 1945.

In 1973 Thyssen employed 14,000 people in Oberhausen in the steel industry, but ten years later the number employed had fallen to 6000.

In 1954 the city began hosting the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, and the 1982 Deutscher Filmpreis was awarded to a group that wrote the Oberhausen Manifesto.

Demographics and Industry

The age breakdown of the population is 0-18, 18.2%; 18-64, 62.9%; >65, 18.9%; while the unemployment rate is 13.2% (January 2007) and the foreign population ratio is 12.4%.

Oberhausen performs chemical processing, mechanical engineering, and education. The "Neue Mitte Oberhausen" (English: New Central Oberhausen) at the former site of the Thyssen mill has light industry.

Cityscape

Schloss Oberhausen - inner courtyard with little castle

Oberhausen has 4 city centres, and Alt-Oberhausen, Sterkrade and Osterfeld are common town centres. The new city centre with its mall draws many people from more distant places as it also boasts a larger number of exceptional shops. Much of the city is composed of low- to medium-density residential areas, most of which date from the 1950s-1970s.

Main sights

• Gasometer Oberhausen, a huge gas holder converted into exhibition space.
• Ludwiggalerie in the Castle Oberhausen
• "Neue Mitte" with CentrO shopping mall, Sea Life aquarium, LEGOLAND Discovery centre, König Pilsener Arena, and CentrO.park, an amusement park.
• OLGA-Park, a landscaped garden in Osterfeld created for a horticultural show
• Rheinisches Industriemuseum (English: Rhineland Industrial Museum)
• The memorial shrine of Paul the Octopus in the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre, who predicted national football match winners by choosing between two food boxes labelled with flags

Gallery

• 

  Oberhausen Hauptbahnhof

• 

  Gasometer

• 

  Castle Oberhausen as seen from the Gasometer

• 

  Castle Vondern

• 

  Townhall with Grillo-Park

• 

  Theatre

• 

  Courthouse

• 

  Baumeister-Mill

• 

  Kastell Holten

• 

  Old market

Transport

Road

Oberhausen is well connected to the German motorway network.

• A2 (E34) (Oberhausen - Dortmund - Bielefeld - Hanover - Magdeburg - Berlin)
• A3 (E35) (from Arnhem - Oberhausen - Cologne - Frankfurt - Würzburg - Nuremberg - Passau - to Linz)
• A40 (Ruhrschnellweg, Venlo - Duisburg - Essen - Dortmund)
• A42 (Emscherschnellweg, Kamp-Lintfort - Oberhausen - Gelsenkirchen - Dortmund)
• A516 (Motorway Interchange from A2 to Oberhausen-Zentrum)

Rail

Oberhausen Hauptbahnhof is the main railway station in the city. Long-distance trains stop at the station (some even to Amsterdam and Basel) as well as regional and local services. There are stations at Holten, Sterkrade and Osterfeld Süd, catering for regional and local travel.

Airports

Nearby commercial airports are at Düsseldorf International Airport (28 km), Dortmund Airport (50 km) and Weeze Airport (60 km).

Waterways

The Rhein-Herne Canal bisects the city, and the Ruhr is in the city's south-west (river navigation uses a shortcut canal to the south).

Public Transport

The city-owned company "STOAG" provides an extensive coverage of bus and tram services. It is part of the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr transport association covering the whole Rhine-Ruhr area.

Sport

With around 250 sports clubs Oberhausen has an active community. Local football club Rot-Weiß Oberhausen currently play in the fourth tier of the league (Regionalliga West).

In 1961, Oberhausen hosted the European Team Chess Championship, which was won by the Soviet Union.

Oberhausen was where esports team SK Gaming was founded as a Quake (video game) clan.

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Germany

Twin towns – Sister cities

Oberhausen is twinned with:

• Middlesbrough, United Kingdom, since 1974
• Zaporizhia, Ukraine, since 1986
• Freital, Germany, since 1990
• Carbonia, Italy, since 2002
• Iglesias, Italy, since 2002
• Mersin, Turkey, since 2004

External links

• Ludwiggalerie in the Castle Oberhausen
•  "Oberhausen". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920. 
•  "Oberhausen". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.