Erftstadt

Erftstadt
Erftstadt
Town
	The old courthouse in Erftstadt-Lechenich
	Coat of arms
	Location of Erftstadt within Rhein-Erft-Kreis district
	Erftstadt Erftstadt
	Coordinates: 50°49′N 6°46′E / 50.817°N 6.767°E
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Cologne
District	Rhein-Erft-Kreis
Subdivisions	18
Government
• Mayor (2020–25)	Carolin Weitzel (CDU)
Area
• Total	119.88 km2 (46.29 sq mi)
Elevation	100 m (300 ft)
Population (2023-12-31)
• Total	50,018
• Density	420/km2 (1,100/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal codes	50374
Dialling codes	02235
Vehicle registration	BM
Website	www.erftstadt.de

Erftstadt (German pronunciation: [ˈɛʁftˌʃtat] ^ⓘ) is a town located about 20 km south-west of Cologne in the Rhein-Erft-Kreis, state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The name of the town derives from the river that flows through it, the Erft. The neighbouring towns are Brühl, Kerpen, Zülpich and Weilerswist.

A landslide during the 2021 European floods led to the collapse of several houses.^[3]

Coat of arms

In green are one silver/white left flank bar and on the right border of the shield two golden/yellow squares. The green ground expresses the nature and the health. The silver flank bar represents the river Erft. The right side looks like an "E" for Erftstadt. The yellow squares represent the biggest villages Lechenich and Liblar. The coat of arms was designed by Josef Günterberg from Berlin. The town got it as an official coat of arms on 15 March 1974.

Geography

Erftstadt is located 25 km north-west of Bonn. Its height ranges from 81 to 151 metres above sea level. The following towns and municipalities border on Erftstadt:

Education

In Erftstadt are five further schools: two gymnasiums, two Realschulen and one Hauptschule. In Lechenich are the Theodor-Heuss-Schule, the only Hauptschule in Erftstadt. There also are the Realschule Lechenich and the Gymnasium Lechenich. The Realschule "Gottfried-Kinkel-Realschule" and the Gymnasium Ville-Gymnasium are located in Liblar. The only private school in Erftstadt, the Freie Waldorfschule Erftstadt, can be found in Liblar too. It is a primary and a secondary school. There are seven primary schools in Erftstadt:

Donatus-Schule Liblar
Erich-Kästner-Schule Bliesheim
Nordschule Lechenich
Südschule Lechenich
Grundschule Gymnich
St. Barbara-Concordia-Schule Kierdorf
Janusz-Korczak-Schule Erp

The TH Köln plans to have a new faculty for Spatial development and infrastructure systems in Erftstadt. There is one music school called Bernd-Alois-Zimmermann-Musikschule in Liblar.

Twin towns – sister cities

Erftstadt is twinned with:^[4]

Wokingham, England, United Kingdom (1977)
Viry-Châtillon, France (1980)
Jelenia Góra, Poland (1995)
Ternopil, Ukraine (2023)
Panketal, Brandenburg (1990)

Wards of Erftstadt

The town of Erftstadt consists of the following 14 Stadtbezirke (in brackets: population, 2023/03/01)

Ahrem (1,176)
Blessem and Frauenthal (1,641)
Bliesheim (3,721)
Borr and Scheuren(366)
Dirmerzheim (2,223)
Erp (2,665)
Friesheim (3,070)
Gymnich and Mellerhöfe (5,003)
Herrig (552)
Kierdorf (3,163)
Köttingen (3,584)
Lechenich and Konradsheim (11, 503)
Liblar (13,365)
Niederberg (542)

Most of the town administration is in Liblar, the most populous Stadtbezirk. The second-most populous Stadtbezirk is Lechenich.

Notable people

Coat of arms of the family Wolff von Metternich

Adolph Wolff von Metternich zur Gracht (1553–1619), cathedral dean in Speyer and steward of the duke Wilhelm V. of Bavaria
Wilhelm Wolff von Metternich zur Gracht (1563–1636), Jesuit Father and Rector of the Colleges of Speyer, Trier and Cologne
Johann Adolf Wolff Metternich zur Gracht (1592–1669), high official at multiple princely courts, Baron, Lord to Liblar, Odenthal and Flehingen
Anna Adriana Wolff von Metternich zur Gracht (1621–1698), Canoness and Abbess of St. Maria in the Kapitol, Cologne

St. Alban

Hermann Werner Wolff-Metternich zur Gracht (1625–1704), prince bishop of Paderborn. He funded and equipped the church St. Alban in Liblar
Franz Arnold Wolff-Metternich zur Gracht (1658–1718, born in Liblar), later prince bishop of Paderborn and Münster

Carl Schurz

Carl Schurz (1829–1906), politician and first German-born cabinet secretary (Secretary of the Interior 1877–1881) in the US
Carl Brendgen (1841–1916), owner of three briquette factories in the area of Erftstadt and pioneer of the industrial use of brown coal in the Rhineland
Jean Bungartz (1854–1934), animal artist, specialist author, photographer, breeder, lived from 1886 to 1913 in Lechenich

Joseph Kentenich

Joseph Kentenich (1885–1968), founder of the Schoenstatt Apostolic Movement
Anna Reitler (1894 – 1948, born in Liblar), politician (KPD), Reichtags deputy
Dietrich Schulz-Köhn (28 December 1912 – 7 December 1999, born in Sonneberg, Thuringia) was a music author, radio host and jazz expert, lived and died in Liblar
Bernd Alois Zimmermann (1918–1970), composer, born in Bliesheim

Hennes Weisweiler

Hennes Weisweiler (1919–1983), football coach, born in Lechenich

Peter Mittelstaedt (right) with Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker (left)

Peter Mittelstaedt:(1929–2014) Physicist, philosopher and science theorist
Manfred Donike (1933–1995), cyclist, chemist and well-known doping investigator

Heinz Küpper, Landtag election 1990

Heinz Küpper (born 1935), First Deputy (CDU) and Head of Culture of Erftstadt from 1982 to 1999

Herbert Feuerstein

Herbert Feuerstein (1937–2020), satirist and entertainer, lived in Niederberg

Cornelius Bormann

Cornelius Bormann (born 1939), journalist of the WDR, lives in Lechenich
Norbert Pies (born 1956), biologist, author, local historian and genealogist, lives in Lechenich