Wuppertal

Wuppertal - Portrait of a CityThe photographic foray shows the many facets of the suspension railway city. Large and small districts that have developed individually are strung together from east to west due to their location in the valley of the Wupper and on the sometimes very steep slopes of the relatively low mountain range. The bourgeois sense of technology and trade created the world famous pioneering project of the suspension railway even before the merger of Barmen and Elberfeld into the city of Wuppertal in 1929. Factories are still located on the banks of the Wupper which flowed through a lovely meadow landscape in the 18th century. Rapid population growth caused considerable social problems in the 19th century. The development of the world's leading textile city with leading companies in the mechanical engineering and chemical industries as well as the typical Wilhelminian neighbourhoods are still visible in the cityscape despite considerable destructions in the Second World War. Civil initiatives for the preservation of monuments have saved a lot of old buildings since the 1970s. The centre of Elberfeld between the train station and the city has undergone major changes since the year 2000. The Comprehensive University which was founded in 1974 and is now the Bergisch University gave the city a new face, shaped by science, design and media professions. The life of the city is inconceivable without diverse, often obstinate, private initiative. This is how the 13 kilometre cycle path of the Nordbahntrasse on the former railway line in the north and the successful, popular "Junior University" were built. This portrait book shows a dynamic city in a constant state of flux.