Bottrop (German pronunciation: [ˈbɔtʁɔp](listen)) is a city in west central Germany, on the Rhine-Herne Canal, in North Rhine-Westphalia. Located in the Ruhr industrial area, Bottrop adjoins Essen, Oberhausen, Gladbeck and Dorsten. The city had been a coal-mining and rail center and contains factories producing coal-tar derivatives, chemicals, textiles, and machinery. Bottrop grew as a mining center beginning in the 1860s, was chartered as a city in 1921, and bombed during the Oil Campaign of World War II. In 1975 it unified with the neighbour communities of Gladbeck and Kirchhellen, but Gladbeck left it in 1976, leading to Kirchhellen becoming a district of Bottrop as Bottrop-Kirchhellen.
Bottrop has the longest stretch of autobahn without junctions which is often used for testing vehicles at high speed, and is home to the famous Mercedes-Benz tuning company Brabus.
The total area of the municipal territory is about 101 square kilometers. The longest north-south distance is 17 kilometers, and from west to east 9 kilometers. The highest peak within the city's territory is 78 m, the lowest one 26 m above NN.
Bottrop is divided into 3 boroughs, they are: Bottrop-Mitte (Bottrop-Center), Bottrop-Süd (Bottrop South) and Bottrop-Kirchhellen, each one having a borough representation and a borough ruler.
These boroughs are further subdivided into city parts, partly named after their traditional name, while the newly built parts are only recently named :
From 1919 until 1976 Kirchhellen was its own town. From 1976 until 1978 it was a part of "GlaBotKi"(Gladbeck, Bottrop, Kirchhellen). In 1978 Kirchhellen became part of Bottrop. The Kirchhellner were very angry and today they are still not happy about it.
Most of Kirchhellner are Catholic (approx. 65%) - there are three churches there. There is one Lutheran church (approx. 20% of the population is Lutheran and approx. 5% are Muslims). The rest are mostly without a religion.
Culture and Attractions
Theaters, Museums and Buildings
Tetraeder, the Tetraeder is a tetrahedron made from steel and residing on concrete pillars. The entire structure is approximately 50m in height and is situated on an 80m high coal mining tip. It has been the town's landmark since its construction in 1995.
Fire Lookout Post in Grafenwald
Main Post Office, constructed 1921 bis 1923.
The Quadrat is a Museum housing permanent exhibitis on local history and displaying works by Josef Albers as well as many temporary exhibitions.
City Hall (Neo-Renaissance 1910–1916) is regarded as the emblem of the city.
Alpincenter, the alpincenter is the world's longest indoor ski slope.
Since September 12, 2005 so called „Stolpersteine“ have been placed by artist Gunter Demnig around the city in rememberance of the people deported and then killed by the Nazis mostly in Nazi concentration camps or extermination camps.
