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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 center *. 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, reproductions of 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 maintained as the headquarters (Hauptsitze) for the 6th Military District (Wehrkreis) of the German Wehrmacht, under the command of Infantry General (General der Infanterie) Gerhard Glokke. Originally made up of Westphalia and the Rhineland, after the Battle of France it was expanded to include the Eupen - Malmedy district of Belgium. The headquarters controlled military operations in Munster, Essen, Dusseldorf, Wuppertal, Bielfeld, Coesfeld, Paderborn, Herford, Minden, Detmold, Lingen, Osnabruck, Recklinghausen, Gelsenkirchen, and Koln. Munster was the home station for the VI and XXIII Infantry Korps, LVI Panzer Korps, and the XXXIII Korps. Munster was also the home of the 6th, 16th and 25th Panzer Divisions; 16th Panzer Grenadier Divisions; and the 6th, 26th, 69th, 86th 106th, 126th, 196th, 199th, 211th, 227th, 253rd, 254th, 264th, 306th, 326th, 329th, 336th, 371st, 385th, and 716th Infantry Divisions. This made Munster a natural target. It was mostly destroyed by Allied air raids, but it was rebuilt after the war in the traditional pre-war style. The 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. See the leaflet (.pdf) and the 10-min.-long DivX-coded film: the 48mb-version or the 87mb-version from the official Münster-homepage. Sights Museums Scientific Education and Research City boroughs Humorous City Mottos Twin cities Münster is twinned with the following places: See also Sights Images History Other ---- ---- | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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