Erkrath

Infobox German Location
Art = Stadt
Name = Erkrath
Wappen = Wappen Erkrath2.jpg
lat_deg = 51 |lat_min = 13 |lat_sec = 26
lon_deg = 06 |lon_min = 54 |lon_sec = 53
Lageplan =
Bundesland = Nordrhein-Westfalen
Regierungsbezirk = Düsseldorf
Kreis = Mettmann
Höhe = 60
Fläche = 26.89
Einwohner = 46591
Stand = 2007-12-31
PLZ = 40699
PLZ-alt = 4006
Vorwahl = 0211, 02104, 02129, 02103
Kfz = ME
Gemeindeschlüssel = 05 1 58 004
Gliederung = 3
Straße = Bahnstrasse 16
Website = [http://www.erkrath.de/ www.erkrath.de]
Bürgermeister = Arno Werner
Partei = CDU

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

Geography

Erkrath is situated on the Düssel river, directly east of Düsseldorf and west of Wuppertal, close to the famous Neandertal.

In that part of Neanderthal, 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.

History

Erkrath is known since 1148 and received the city 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.

Twin towns

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

Notable persons

* Klaus Allofs former German footballer
* Thomas Allofs former German footballer
* Dieter Prochnow Actor (Brother of the famous German Actor Jürgen Prochnow)
* Toni Turek former German footballer (World Champion 1954)

External links

* [http://www.erkrath.de Official site] de icon
* [http://www.neanderthal.de Homepage of the Neanderthal Museum] de icon
* [http://www.lokschuppen-hochdahl.de Homepage of the Lokschuppen Museum] de icon