Erkrath

Erkrath
Erkrath
Location of the town of Erkrath within Mettmann district
Coordinates	51°13′26″N 6°54′53″E
Administration
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Düsseldorf
District	Mettmann
Town subdivisions	3
Mayor	Arno Werner (CDU)
Basic statistics
Area	26.89 km2 (10.38 sq mi)
Elevation	68 m  (223 ft)
Population	45,963 (31 December 2010)
- Density	1,709 /km2 (4,427 /sq mi)
Other information
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Licence plate	ME
Postal code	40699
Area codes	0211, 02104, 02129, 02103
Website	www.erkrath.de

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

• Official site (German)
• Homepage of the Neanderthal Museum (German)
• Homepage of the Lokschuppen Museum (German)