Benrath is a part of Düsseldorf in the south of the city. It has been a part of Düsseldorf since 1929.
History
The name Benrath came from the "Knights of Benrode". The settlement was mentioned for the first time in 1222 in a document from Cologne where Everhard de Benrode is named as an attestor. By the end of the fifth century the area is known as "Rode" or "Roide", which is a cleared area. The castle and the manor of the Benrodes became property of the Counts of Berg by the 13th century. The first church of Benrath was constructed in 1002. The village developed parallel to the castle. The old Church St. Cäcilia was built in that time. Benrath is a place of pilgrimage for Roman Catholic Christians. In the time of Industrial Revolution Benrath grew very fast, because Benrath it next to the important Cologne–Duisburg railway. In 1929 Benrath became a part of Düsseldorf.
In the German linguistics the Benrath line is the borderline between the Low German and Middle German dialects, although on both side of the line there is a Rhenish dialect. It is also called maken-machen-line, since south of it speakers say machen and north of it maken, as is described in the High German consonant shift.
The Benrath Castle
The Schloss Benrath is one of the greatest baroque castles in Germany. The castle contains a museum. The park of the castle is very famous, too.
Regular events
August
Schloss concerts Bier Boerse!
October
Second Sunday: Light procession through the park of the castle around the Spiegelweiher with the "Black Madonna of Benrath"
Benrath possesses a regional railway station on the railway trackCologne–Duisburg line of the historic Cologne-Minden Railway Company. The Düsseldorf-Benrath station is a pre-modern clinker brick building Bahnhof from the 1930s and the second railway station at this place. It is served by two Regional-Express services: RE 1 and RE 5 and Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn line S 6, all operated by Deutsche Bahn. A Tram of the Rheinbahn, the line 701, connects Benrath to the city of Düsseldorf. Furthermore, there are the bus lines 730 Urdenbach-Lohausen, 778/779 circle course Garath, 784 Urdenbach–Hilden–Wuppertal-Vohwinkel, 788 Benrath Ost–Monheim am Rhein and 789 Holthausen–Monheim am Rhein in Benrath. By 1962 there was a one rail narrow gauge tram from Benrath via Hilden to Solingen-Ohligs resp. to Haan und Wuppertal-Vohwinkel. This narrow gauge railway tram went beyond Benrath to Düsseldorf, Oberbilker Markt, and formed the so-called Benrather Netz, that was bought by Düsseldorf in 1910, hence before the amalgamation of Benrath. the multiple unit No. 107 of this narrow gauge railway is preserved in the Bergisches Straßenbahnmuseum in Wuppertal-Kohlfurt. At the AutobahnA59 there is a Anschlussstelle „Düsseldorf-Benrath“.
Literature
Wolfgang D. Sauer: Düsseldorf-Benrath. Alte Bilder erzählen. Sutton Verlag, Erfurt 2006,
Benrather Heimatgeschichte, hrsg.v. Benrather Kulturkreis e.V. und der Heimatgemeinschaft Groß-Benrath e.V., Düsseldorf 1956, erw. Neuaufl. Düsseldorf 1974
