Billerbeck

Billerbeck

St. Ludgerus Church

Coat of arms
Billerbeck

Coordinates: 51°58′45″N 7°17′42″E / 51.97917°N 7.29500°E / 51.97917; 7.29500Coordinates: 51°58′45″N 7°17′42″E / 51.97917°N 7.29500°E / 51.97917; 7.29500
Country Germany
State North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region Münster
District Coesfeld
Government
 • Mayor Marion Dirks
Area
 • Total 90.93 km2 (35.11 sq mi)
Population (2014-12-31)[1]
 • Total 11,447
 • Density 130/km2 (330/sq mi)
Time zone CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes 48727
Dialling codes 02543
Vehicle registration COE
Website www.billerbeck.de

Billerbeck is a municipality in the district of Coesfeld in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.

Geography

Neighbor towns/cities

Billerbeck has boundaries to Rosendahl, Laer, Altenberge, Havixbeck, Nottuln and Coesfeld.

City Districts

Growth due to law acts

On 1 July 1969 the town's surrounding areas: Alstätte, Bockelsdorf, Bombeck, Dörholt, Gantweg, Gerleve, Hamern, Lutum, Osthellen, Osthellermark and Westhellen - each part of former "Kirchspiel Aulendorf", Esking, Langenhorst und Temming - each part of former Beerlage - were merged with Billerbeck.

Politics

Town council

26 Seats of the town council were given to different parties at local elections on 26 September 2004:

Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms shows the three rivers Berkel, Haulingbach and Lilienbeck in silver on blue background. Its origin can be traced back to the medieval Knights of Billerbeck.

Sistercity

Culture and Sights

Theatre

In 1950 the citizens Alex Hesselmann and Bernhard Engbers founded the open air-theatre of Billerbeck. It is well known for its high class acting, given that there are only non-professional actors.

Museums

The Kolvenburg comprises building parts from the 15th and 16th centuries. This kind of mansion with its half-hipp roof is a typical housing of the lower nobility of the Münsterland. Today it is the cultural centre of the district of Coesfeld showing changing exhibitions.

Gerleve Abbey
Alte Landwirtschaftsschule

Buildings

Parks

Economy and Infrastructure

Traffic

Billerbeck can be reached by car via the autobahn. From north-east on autobahn A1 at interjunction "Havixbeck/Billerbeck", from south on autobahn A43 at interjunction "Nottuln/Billerbeck", from west on autobahn A31 at interjunction "Coesfeld".

Public Transport

Billerbeck is located on the train line from Münster to Coesfeld, the so-called "tree hills line" ("Baumbergebahn"). The modernised station building offers a café for cultural Events and a bicycle rental station.

A further train station in Billerbeck is located in Lutum, which is a countryside train station. The town of Billerbeck is part of the public transport association of the Münsterland VGM. Therefore some bus lines also stop at Billerbeck, connecting the town to its neighbouring towns and cities.

Business

The biggest employer in Billerbeck is the company Dr. Suwelack founded by Wolfgang Suwelack and which employs 410 staff. It is working on the sector of nutrition production and skin care. It is also operating one of the most advanced and biggest nutriton shockfrosting sites in Europe. A medium-sized metal-working industry can be found there as well as several trading companies, and service industry (e.g. 7 haircutters, 3 undertakers and a filmproduction company).

Billerbeck is an important centre of tourism as it is only half-an-hour away for the 7 million people of the Rhein-Ruhr-Area and it is also a place of pilgrimage as Ludger, the first bishop of Münster, died there in the year 809. Last but not least cycling is very popular in the region which is manifested in 800 kilometres of bicycle and pedestrian streets. For these reasons the gastronomy is well developed and offers a great variety related to the city's number of inhabitants.

Hotels / Restaurants / Bistros:

Cafés:

Education

In Billerbeck there are the Grundschule (basic school - school years 1-4) at two locations, the Realschule (secondary modern school/junior high - 5-10) and a Hauptschule (secondary school - 5-10). 5 Kindergartens and 2 day care units are operated in the city.

Religion

In Billerbeck there are Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches present.

The Catholic Pfarr- und Propsteigemeinde St. Johann / St. Ludgerus Billerbeck has its roots in the 8th century.

Very renowned and with great importance far ahead of Billerbeck there is the abby of Benedictine- St. Joseph at Billerbeck-Gerleve. It is part of the Beuron congregation and since 1999 has been led by prior Pius Engelbert O.S.B. The abby also contains a house for retreat, a youth education unit, and a religious book store.

The Lutheran church centre (Protestant) "Vom guten Hirten" (of the good shepherd) in Billerbeck is a modern style church with affiliated centre of parish.

Literature

Peter Ilisch, Zur Siedlungsgenese von Billerbeck. Westfälische Zeitschrift 129, 1979, S. 9-56. Peter Ilisch, Zum Erscheinungsbild münsterländischer Kirchhöfe vor 1800 - Das Beispiel St. Johann zu Billerbeck. Geschichtsblätter des Kreises Coesfeld 4, 1979, S. 114-131. Peter Ilisch, Die Vikarien zu Billerbeck. Geschichtsblätter des Kreises Coesfeld 28, 2003, S. 1-25.

clubs, societies, groups, institutions

References

  1. ↑ "Amtliche Bevölkerungszahlen". Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW (in German). 23 September 2015.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, March 19, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.