Tourism in Wuppertal

Elverfelde was first mentioned in documents in 1161 as Cologne Tafelhof. It was probably a fortified farm, which served primarily as a supply and overnight station for travelling clergymen, nobles and troops.

The valley of the river Wupper is one of the oldest industrially shaped metropolitan areas. The first bleaching factories had already established themselves around 1400. In 1527, the two towns on the Wupper received a monopoly on the processing and refining of linen yarn. On this basis, the first important textile manufacturers were established around 1750. In the 19th century, the valley of the Wupper rose to an important industrial region. A symbol of this economic power is the suspension monorail, opened in 1901, a masterpiece of engineering and still a landmark of the town today.

Wuppertal is now a city of brands, with aspirin, ingrain wallpaper and Sympatex products having been developed here. With around 4500 architectural monuments, Wuppertal is one of the cities with the highest number of monuments in Germany. In Elberfeld, classical town houses, the basilica of St. Laurentius, the Swimming Opera and the Historical Town Hall are impressive.

In Barmen you will find the monumental town hall, the Bergisch-Baroque slate houses and the opera house. Stucco-decorated buildings from the Wilhelminian period and Art Nouveau houses from the early 20th century characterise the entire townscape.

The villa quarter at the zoo offers an impressive architectural variety due to the decades of construction. The Briller Viertel is one of the largest contiguous Wilhelminian villa quarters in Germany. Textile magnates from Wuppertal built their prestigious houses in spacious parks from the end of the 19th century onwards. Between 1870 and 1914, space-saving housing was created in the Nordstadt for the working families of the textile industry. The four-storey buildings around narrow backyards offered little comfort. Long after light bulbs were already lighting the Briller Viertel, petroleum lamps were still lit there. With the comprehensive restoration, the district with its Wilhelminian style facades has developed into a lively residential quarter.