Bergisch Gladbach, Urban municipality in Rhein-Berg District, Germany.
Bergisch Gladbach is a district capital in the Rhein-Berg District east of Cologne, spread across forested hills and valleys of the lower Rhineland. The built environment shifts between residential neighborhoods, commercial zones and green spaces crossed by small streams.
The settlement received city rights in 1856 and developed from several villages along the small Strunde River. Paper mills and later machinery production shaped the industrialization of the region during the 19th century.
The name combines the territory once ruled by local counts with a reference to the stream that ran through several channels. Today people of different faiths live side by side, with Catholic traditions alongside Protestant communities and a growing share of residents who follow no religion.
The town works well as a base for walks into the forested hills around it or for trips to nearby Cologne. Many paths lead through quiet residential areas toward rural sections with old farmsteads and meadows.
Two moated castles from medieval times still stand in the districts of Zwieffelstrunden and Blegge, surrounded by quiet moats. In the Paffrath district a Romanesque church from the 12th century surprises visitors, tucked into a calm corner among newer houses.
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