Introducing Essen

Essen - the modern business, commercial and service metropolis in the heart of the Ruhr Area. Essen is home to the headquarters of some of Germany’s biggest companies: These include e.g. RWE AG, Evonik Industries AG, E.ON Ruhrgas AG, GALERIA Karstadt Kaufhof GmbH and Hochtief AG. The Messe Essen is one of the top-ten German trade fair locations.

What confuses many visitors who see the modern skyline of Essen is that the history of the city is older than that of e.g. Berlin, Dresden or Munich. In 2002, Essen celebrated the 1150th jubilee of the convent and City of Essen.

The Ruhr city maintains good contacts with its chosen relatives in China, England, Finland, France, Israel, Poland and Russia.

For once, the focus is not on the highly official political and economic connections. Rather the city partnerships serve to connect groups of people all throughout Europe, and to open the world in particular to young people.

Of course no one minds the odd bilateral business agreement here and there, but the main idea is for Markus and Michelle, John and Hanne, Tatjana and Thomas to have the opportunity to get to know each other.