Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf is the capital city of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and one of the economic centres of Germany. It`s located on the River Rhine and in the densely populated Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area, with more than 10 million inhabitants. The city is well-known for its events and fairs, like fashion and trade fairs, like the Boot Messe (world leader in boats and watersports) and Igedo (world leader in fashion).

The first written mention of the town of Düsseldorf dates back to 1135, then called „Düsseldorp“. In 1946 Düsseldorf was made capital of the new federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The city's reconstruction proceeded at a frantic pace and the economic transformation saw Düsseldorf growing into the wealthy city of trade, administration and service industries as it is known today

The most popular street in Düsseldorf is the Kö which stands for Königsallee, a well-frequented shopping street with some of the most reputed jewellery shops, designer labels, and galleries. The Kö has about the highest rents for shops and bureaus in Germany.

Düsseldorf is not only widely known as a center of the German advertising and fashion industries. In the last few years the city on the River Rhine has become one of the top telecommunications centers in Germany, with two of the four German providers of mobile frequencies Eplus and Vodafone. But quite a lot of other major German companies have their headquarters in Düsseldorf, like ThyssenKrupp (metallurgy), Metro (wholesale, retail), LTU (air transport) or E.ON (energy). Also important newspapers and journals are published in the city.

Düsseldorf and its surroundings has the third largest Japanese community in Europe and the largest in Germany (about 11,000 inhabitants).

One of the biggest cultural events in Düsseldorf is the Düsseldorfer Karneval (also referred to as the "fifth season") which starts every year on 11 November at 11:11 a.m., and reaches its peak on Rosenmontag (Rose Monday), featuring a huge parade through the streets of Düsseldorf. It ends on Aschermittwoch (Ash Wednesday). Very popular is the Große Düsseldorfer Kirmes fair, with more than 4.5 million visitors every. The old town is famous for its nightlife. There are more than hundred bars, discos and pubs very tight together so it´s called “the longest bar in the World”.