Feb 16, 2011

Osnabrück, the city of peace


This postcard was sent by Beatriz from Germany via postcrossing [DE-829757]. It shows Osnaburck, a small city in Germany.

As the centre of an economic region located in Lower Saxony and bordering on North Rhine Westphalia with about 700,000 inhabitants, Osnabrück has always played an important leadership role. Its existence as the 3rd biggest city of Lower Saxony is due to a long-sighted decision taken by Charlemagne more than 1,200 years ago. In 780 he founded a mission at an intersection of old trade routes.
Osnabrück achieved its place within the history of Europe as the venue of the Peace of Westphalia (1648). With around 163,000 inhabitants, Osnabrück is the economic and cultural centre of west Lower Saxony and the heart of the Osnabrück region. Its leisure value profits from the attractive location between the Teutoburger Wald mountains and Wiehengebirge hills with a large number of therapeutic baths nearby. Osnabrück is the only large German city situated in the middle of a nature park – the UNESCO Geopark TERRA.vita.

There are green spaces right into the centre of the city so that it is possible to live surrounded by nature in most places. The impression of an old city is conveyed by the Romanesque cathedral and the baroque castle as well as the famous old town, popular amongst visitors, with the medieval fortifications and the half-timbered houses.
Even if you cannot tell at first, Osnabrück is an important industrial city. Industrial goods from almost every sector are produced in Osnabrück. Most of the jobs within the industrial sector are however in the metal industry. The manufacture of copper, vehicle construction and engineering are dominant. The paper industry is also a very important sector. The over proportionate transport industry reinforces the position of Osnabrück as a prominent logistic and service centre.
The young, top flight university, the technical college with its popular international study programmes and the DBU (German Federal Environment Foundation), located in Osnabrück are all important factors for the creation of an innovative climate.
Osnabrück has a whole bunch of attractive offers in the cultural, urban, artistic and aesthetic areas, ranging from the theatre to the botanical gardens. The annual European media and arts festival and the exhibitions in the Dominican Church art gallery attract both national and international attention. In the rich museum landscape, the Felix-Nussbaum museum is the youngest and most spectacular construction. The museum, designed in a deconstructive style by the American star architect Daniel Libeskind, which houses the largest collection of images of the Jewish painter Felix Nussbaum, has aroused worldwide sensation and recognition.
Last but not least, the profile of Osnabrück is determined by an intense engagement in peace politics. That is why the city awards the Erich-Maria-Remarque Peace Prize every two years in remembrance of the lifework of the writer from Osnabrück, deeply influenced by humanism and why it sponsors the Erich Maria Remarque Peace Centre.
Since 2001, Osnabrück has been the seat of the DSF (German Foundation for Peace Research), which was founded in 2000. It supports scientific projects and young scientists, it initiates conferences and helps the networking of research institutions and is thus an important hub for the research of peace. [osnabrueck.de]

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