Local History for Münster and Osnabrück

Münster is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region.
History
In 793 Charlemagne sent out as missionary the Frisian Liudger (later canonized) to convert the Saxons with whom he had been battling, offering as headquarters his recently demolished Frankish stronghold of Mimigernaford ("ford over the Aa river"), at the crossroads of the road from Cologne and the road to Frisia. Liudger was a product of Utrecht and the York school of Ethelbert, which produced many of the clerics who served in Charlemagne's chancelry. He built his church and cloister on the right bank of the Aa, on the height called the Horsteberg: it was the monastery ("monasterium") from which Münster derives its name. In 805 Liudger travelled to Rome to be ordained the first bishop of Münster, and soon founded a school. The combination of ford and crossroad, marketplace, episcopal administration center, library and school, established Münster as an important cente.
In the Middle Ages Münster was a leading member of the Hanseatic League. In 1534 the Anabaptists took power in the Münster Rebellion and founded a democratic proto-socialistic state. The town was recaptured in 1535; the Anabaptists were tortured to death, their corpses were exhibited in cages, which can still be seen hanging on the Tower of St. Lamberti's steeple.
The signing of the Peace of Westphalia of 1648 at Münster and Osnabrück ended the thirty years war and was one of the foundations upon which modern Europe was built. It also guaranteed the future of the prince-bishop and the diocese; the area was to be exclusively Roman Catholic.
In 1780 the University of Münster (today called "Westphalian Wilhelms-University", WWU) was established, now a major European centre for excellence in education and research with large faculties in the arts, humanities, theology, sciences, business and law. Currently there are about 40,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students enrolled.
In 1802 Münster was conquered by Prussia during the Napoleonic Wars. It became the capital of the Prussian province of Westphalia.
In 1899 the city's harbour started operations when the city was linked to the Dortmund-Ems Canal.
In 1924 the radio and television organisation Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) was set up in Münster's harbour area.
In World War II Münster was mostly destroyed by Allied air raids, but it was rebuilt after the war in the traditional pre-war style.
The Prince Bishop of Münster in the 1940's was Cardinal Clemens August Graf von Galen one of the most prominent critics of the Nazi government. In retaliation for his success, Münster was heavily garrisoned during WWII and five large complexes of barracks are a still resented feature of the city.
From 1974 onward, the city was the residence of the American artist Moondog, who idolized postwar Germany.
In 2003, Münster hosted the Central European Olympiad in Informatics (CEOI).
In 2004, Münster won the LivCom-Award for Liveable Communities.

Sights

• St Paul's Cathedral, built in the 13th century in a mixture of late Romanesque and early Gothic styles. It has been completely restored after WWII damage. It includes an astronomical clock of 1540, adorned with hand-painted zodiac symbols, which traces the movement of the planets, and plays a Glockenspiel tune every noon.

St Paul's Cathedral, Münster       

• The Prinzipalmarkt, the marketplace in the city centre with the Gothic town hall (14th century) in which the Peace of Westphalia treaty which put an end to the Thirty Years' War was signed in 1648.
• St Lambert's Church (1375), with three cages hanging from its tower above the clock face. In 1535 these cages were used to display the corpses of Jan van Leiden and other leaders of the Münster Rebellion, who promoted polygamy and renunciation to all property.
• The Schloss (palace), built 1767-87 as residence for the prince-bishops, now the administrative centre for the University.

Museums

• University Geology and Palaentology Museum, exhibiting several important finds, housed in an old city palace
• Westphalian State Museum of Art and Cultural History
• University bible museum
• City Museum ("Stadtmuseum"), exhibition of a large collection showing the political and cultural history of the city from its beginning up to present, housed by a converted former department store
• University Mineralogical Museum
• Westphalian Horse Museum ("Hippomax")
• Mühlenhof open-air museum, depicting a typical Westphalian village as it looked centuries ago
• Westphalian Museum for Natural History, state museum and planetarium
• West Prussian State Museum ("Drostenhof Wolbeck")
• Museum of Lacquer Art
• Pablo Picasso Museum of Graphic Art, the only museum devoted exclusively to the graphic works of Pablo Picasso

Scientific Education and Research

• University of Münster (Westphalian Wilhelms-University (WWU))
• Fachhochschule Münster
• Fachhochschule for public administration
• Catholic Fachhochschule Münster (Catholic Polytechnical College)
• Kunstakademie Münster (Academy of Arts)
• Hochschule der Polizei (Police College)
• Unteroffizierschule des Heeres (Army NCO College/branch)
• about 92 Schools of primary and secondary education, many with international partnerships

Humorous City Mottos

• Either it's raining, or the church bells are ringing. If both, it's Sunday.
• There's a pub opening up.

Twin cities
Münster is twinned with the following places:

• York, United Kingdom
• Fresno, California, USA
• Orléans, France
• Kristiansand, Norway
• Monastir Tunisia
• Rishon LeZion, Israel
• Ryazan, Russia
• Mühlhausen, Thuringia
• Lublin, Poland

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Osnabrück is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, some 80 km NNE of Dortmund, 45 km NE of Munster, and some 100 km due west of Hanover. It lies in a valley penned between the Wiehengebirge and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest, which is a series of parallel ridges running SE towards Bielefeld and beyond to Detmold, that makes the generally pretty area attractive to bicycle riders, amongst others. As of 30th June 2002, its population was 163,919, making it the third largest city in Lower Saxony.

History

Osnabrück was founded in 780 by Charlemagne, king of the Franks, although the date is not entirely certain. Some time before 803, the city became seat of the Bishopric of Osnabruck. This date is also uncertain, but it makes Osnabrück the oldest bishopric in Saxony. In 889 it was given merchant, customs, and coinage privileges by King Arnulf of Carinthia. It is first mentioned as a "city" in records in 1147. Shortly afterwards, in 1157, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa granted the city fortification privileges (Befestigungsrecht). Most of the towers that were part of the medieval fortification are still visible in the city. Osnabrück became a member of the Hanseatic League in the 12th Century, as well as a member of the Westphalian Federation of Cities.

Still a bishopric today, the city has a fair-sized cathedral in the late romanesque style. While nothing is left of the original cathedral from the city's foundation, excavations have traced the oldest parts of today's building to the 10th century. Most of it stems from the 12th and 13th centuries though, with the choir being a later gothic addition. Curiously, the southwestern tower that was also added later in gothic style occupies four times the ground space of the older, northwestern one. The plan to re-erect the second tower was never executed, making the two towers look very much out of proportion to each other.

Since the citizens elected to follow the course of the Protestant reformation, this led to an ongoing conflict with the Catholic bishop that was not resolved until the 17th century. Probably the most significant event in the city's history was then the negotiations from 1643 to 1648 that led to the Peace of Westphalia that ended the Thirty Years’ War. Since the Catholic and the Protestant delegations refused to negotiate in person, the Catholics were seated in Münster, while the Protestants resided in Osnabrück. The Friedenssaal, where the negotiations took place, can be seen in the city's impressive Town Hall building from 1517. For the city, the Westphalian Peace led to the unique regulation that it would be governed alternately by a Roman Catholic and a Protestant bishop, with the Protestant bishops being nominated by the Dukes (later Electors) of Brunswick-Luneberg. This led to the last prince-bishop, Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (1763-1827), being elected at the age of 196 days to enable him to hold the position for as long as possible. Today, the city's population is roughly divided between the two confessions.

In the course of the secularization that preceded the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, the Bishopric of Osnabrück was appropriated into the Kingdom of Hanover in 1803. This was confirmed by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Not until 1858 was the diocese re-erected as a church entity, while the city continued to belong to Hanover and thus also became part of Prussia with the annexation of Hanover in 1866.

Osnabrück suffered very much from the bombings at the end of World War II, but selected parts of the historic buildings have been re-erected. Today's Altstadt thus may not be entirely original, but still delivers the impression of a medieval city.

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