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 (Changzhou), England (Sunderland), Finland (Tampere), France (Grenoble), Israel (Tel Aviv-Yafo), Poland (Zabrze).

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

The twin city partnerships are intended to encourage people from different countries and cultures to get to know each other and to exchange ideas. Essen also welcomes the occasional bilateral business transaction or joint project.

Due to Russia's attack on Ukraine, the twin city partnership with the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod is currently suspended. In this context, the city of Essen has entered into a solidarity partnership with the northwestern Ukrainian city of Rivne.