Düsseldorf, German

Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region with 11 million people.

Düsseldorf is an international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located within the Blue Banana, the city is headquarters to five Fortune Global 500 and several DAX companies. Messe Düsseldorf claims to organise nearly one fifth of all world‘s premier trade shows.

Culturally, Düsseldorf is known for its academy of fine arts, its pioneering influence on electronic/experimental music and its relatively large Japanese community. As a city by the river Rhine, Düsseldorf is a stronghold for Rhenish Carnival celebrations. Every year in July more than 4.5 million people visit the city's Largest Fair on the Rhine funfair.

As the seventh most populous city in Germany by population within city limits and a Larger Urban Zone population of 1.5 million, Mercer's 2012 Quality of Living survey ranked Düsseldorf sixth city in the world.

Like the rest of the lower Rhineland, Düsseldorf experiences moderate winters with little snowfall and mild to warm summers. The average annual temperature is 10.6 °C with an average yearly precipitation of 797 millimetres. The dominant wind direction is from the south or southeast with velocities in the range of 3 to 4 m/s, with gusts of 3.5 −4.8 m/s. The wind is calm about 35% of the time, more frequently at night and in the winter.

Art-loving Elector Jan Wellem and his wife Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici of Tuscany, were the patrons of Düsseldorf's first significant cultural activities in the 17th and 18th centuries. Heinrich Heine, whose 200th birthday was celebrated in 1997, Clara and Robert Schumann as well as Felix Mendelssohn are the most prominent artists related to the city. Artistic impulses were often born in the Academy of Fine Arts and the names of Paul Klee, Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter as well as Albert Bierstadt are associated with the institution. The Düsseldorf cultural scene comprises traditional and avant-garde, classical and glamorous. The world famous state art collection of North Rhine-Westphalia, the highly acclaimed Deutsche Oper am Rhein, and the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, artistic home of Gustaf Gründgens, are major elements of Düsseldorf's reputation as a centre of the fine arts.

Since the 1950s the "Komödchen" has been one of the most prominent political cabarets of Germany. Düsseldorf's most famous contribution to the culture of modern popular music is beyond doubt the avant-garde electronic music band Kraftwerk. Formed by a few Düsseldorf-born musicians, Kraftwerk are internationally known as the most significant band in the history of post-war German music and as pioneers in electronic music. Internationally-known power metal band Warlock was formed in Düsseldorf in 1982. Their frontwoman, Doro Pesch, has had a successful solo career in Europe and Asia since Warlock ended. The punk band Die Toten Hosen, which is famous around the world, also the most popular singers in Germany Westernhagen and Heino come from Düsseldorf. The electronic act D.A.F. was formed in the city in 1978, as well as the electronic/industrial pioneers Die Krupps in 1980. The experimental post-punk group La Düsseldorf was named after the city, for which it paid with a legal case in the early 1980s. In the Oldtown German and international tourists go out on the main street Bolkerstraße, while the local scene prefers the bars on Ratinger Straße and Kurze Straße. In May 2011, Germany hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. Also, famous rock guitarist, Uli Jon Roth was born and still lives in the city.

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