North Rhine-Westphalia

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t Elaborate 19th-century decoration above the cathedral’s main entrance.

Experience North Rhine-Westphalia

As a province, the North Rhineland goes back to Roman times. In the Middle Ages most of this area was ruled by the bishops of Köln. The North Rhineland cities grew and prospered thanks to their trade links, and in the 19th century they became major centres of mining and heavy industry. Westphalia forms the eastern part of the region. Once a Saxon territory, its history was often intertwined with that of the Rhineland. Only its western end has been heavily industrialized.

North Rhine-Westphalia is not the largest of the German regions, but is home to nearly 18 million people, it is the most highly populated one. It is often thought that the region – and in particular the heavily industrialized Ruhr valley – has little to offer to its visitors, but this is a mistaken belief. Its splendid past has left many priceless historic monuments and more recently, thanks to major investment, its industrial cities have transformed themselves into attractive cultural centres. The region is also an ideal base for outdoor adventures, with thousands of kilometres of tracks for walking in the Teutoburg Forest and in the Northern Eifel mountains, as well as splendid conditions for watersports and fishing in the Sauerland.

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