Mönchengladbach Travel Guide
A detailed destination guide for your next Germany vacation
Mönchengladbach Overview
Mönchengladbach is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located west of the Rhine half way between Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf vacation rentals | Düsseldorf travel guide) and the Dutch border.
The original name of the city was Gladbach, which is even today often applied to the town. To distinguish the town from another town of the same name (the present Bergisch Gladbach) it took the name München-Gladbach in 1888. This spelling could mislead people to think that Gladbach was a borough of Munich (Munich vacation rentals | Munich travel guide) (München in German), and consequently the name was changed to Mönchen Gladbach in 1950 and Mönchengladbach in 1960. The origin of the town was an abbey founded in 974. It was named after the Gladbach, a narrow brook, that runs subterraneously today. The abbey and adjoining villages became a town in the 14th century. The town of Rheydt (Rheydt vacation rentals | Rheydt travel guide) is located nearby and is incorporated into Mönchengladbach today. Mönchengladbach is home of the football club Borussia Mönchengladbach, Formula One race car drivers Nick Heidfeld and Heinz-Harald Frentzen, author/cartoonist Walter Moers (Moers vacation rentals | Moers travel guide) and the philosopher Hans Jonas.
[ source: wikipedia ]
Where to stay in Mönchengladbach?
Check out our selection of hand-selected and quality Mönchengladbach vacation rentals and holiday apartments.
Things to See in Mönchengladbach
Municipal Abteiberg Museum for contemporary art
Municipal Museum Schloss Rheydt (Rheydt vacation rentals | Rheydt travel guide) for fine art
Museum im Wasserturm Rheindahlen for relics of the stone age
Museum Altes Zeughaus e. V. for Carnival
Museum Schloss Wickrath for ornithology
Bunter Garten, municipal park with botanical garden and arboretum
Maps and Driving Directions to Mönchengladbach
The city has two main railway stations: Mönchengladbach Hauptbahnhof (Hbf) and Rheydt Hbf, the result of the merger of the two cities, in which the deprecated name for Rheydt Hbf was never removed. An S-Bahn line connects the city to Düsseldorf and Hagen; an extension further westwards is presently being discussed. A number of regional trains serve Mönchengladbach, but it is the largest city in Germany without regular long-distance services. Local bus and rail transport is carried out by the NVV-AG under the VRR transport association regulations.
Mönchengladbach
[ source: Flickr]
Related Sites
We collected some useful links related to Mönchengladbach. If you know a few more sites not listed here, or also know some insider tips or point of interests for this destination? Please share and submit your Germany travel tip. If approved it will be shown on this page!
- Homepage of Mönchengladbach: Mönchengladbach (official home page)
- Wikipedia: Mönchengladbach
More about the History of Mönchengladbach
The first settlements in the area of Mönchengladbach are approximately 300,000 - 400,000 years old and show remains of Homo Erectus and Neanderthal. There are numerous cairns from the Neolithic and the Bronze Age.
The history of Mönchengladbach began with the construction of the Gladbach Cathedral and the founding of an abbey in the year 974 by Gero, Archbishop of Cologne (Cologne vacation rentals | Cologne travel guide), and his companion, the monk Sandrad of Trier (Trier vacation rentals | Trier travel guide).
To advance the settlement, the monks created a market north of the church in the 12th century. Craftsmen settled near the market. Gladbach received its town charter in 1364/1366. The "town" got a town wall made of stone, which had to be maintained by the citizens. (Remains of that wall can be found at the Geroweiher, as can remains of the "Thick Tower", an old fortifed tower at the Waldhausener hill). Until the end of the 18th century the city belonged to the department of Grevenbroich (Grevenbroich vacation rentals | Grevenbroich travel guide) within the duchy of Jülich.
On October 4, 1794 French revolution army troops marched into the town, one day before the fortress Jülich had been handed over. When the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II conveyed the left bank of the river Rhine to France with the Treaty of Lunéville in 1801, Gladbach fell under French religion laws. This was the end for the abbey, and the monastery was closed. On October 31, 1802, the last 31 monks left the monastery. The tremendous abbey library, well known outside of Germany, was scattered or destroyed.
From 1798 until 1814, the Mairie Gladbach was part of Kanton Odenkirchen, Arrondissement Krefeld (Krefeld vacation rentals | Krefeld travel guide), of the French Département de la Roer.
In 1815, Gladbach became part of the Kingdom of Prussia and seat of the Landkreis Gladbach, which was dissolved in 1929. In 1815 Gladbach became seat of the Bürgermeisterei (Office of mayor), which was split in 1859 into two parts: the City of Gladbach and Office of Mayor Obergeburth. The latter was renamed to München-Gladbach-Land in 1907. When the Prussian Rhine Province was dissolved after World War II, the city became part of the new state North Rhine-Westphalia.
[ source: wikipedia ]
What makes this Live Like a German Mönchengladbach Travel Guide special...
This Mönchengladbach travel guide provides you with an overview of Mönchengladbach, Mönchengladbach pictures, and a local travel guide that suggests many special trips, unique activities, and vacation ideas, that you can't find in a typical Germany travel guide.
Some of this information is compiled from popular and well-known sources (e.g., such as Wikipedia, Wikitravel, and great pictures from Flickr). However, what makes this Germany travel guide special is that most of the travel suggestions and insider tips are provided by local residents, property owners, and our readers, who share and submit their travel tips with us. All submissions are then editorially reviewed to ensure high quality. All this information is logically organized within this destination guide to make it easy for you to find things quickly.
In addition, the Mönchengladbach destination guide features restaurant recommendations, restaurant reviews, where to go for grocery shopping, sports activities, getting around, cultural events and highlights, entertainment, and health related information - so you are informed for your travel to Germany, and you can learn about all the cool things you can do during your Germany vacation!
