Düsseldorf,

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city, W central Germany, capital of North Rhine-Westphalia, a port at the confluence of the Rhine and Düssel rivers. It is an important manufacturing, financial, transportation, and services center and is the seat of several major corporate headquarters. Products include metal goods, machinery, chemicals, textiles, clothing, and printed materials. Notable structures in Düsseldorf, known as one of the most elegant cities in Germany, include Saint Lambert's Church (begun 13th cent.), Jägerhof Castle (now housing a museum of 20th-cent. painting), and several modern office buildings. Among the city's many other cultural facilities are the Fine Arts Museum, with notable displays of 19th- and 20th-century painting; Hetjens Museum, with a large collection of ceramics; a museum devoted to the life and work of the poet and writer Johnann Wolfgang von Goethe; and a university (1965). The poet Heinrich Heine spent his youth here.

Düsseldorf received a charter in 1288 from Count Adolf of Berg (fl. 1259-96), and one of the local castles was for a long period the residence of the counts (later dukes) of Berg. The city became the capital of the Napoleonic Grand Duchy of Berg in 1805, and in 1815, along with the duchy, it passed to Prussia. Düsseldorf developed as a major center of the Ruhr industrial district after 1870. Following World War I the city was occupied by Allied forces from 1921 to 1925. It was badly damaged during World War II, but was rapidly rebuilt. Pop. (2005 est.) 574,514.