Dortmund

Dortmund is a city in Germany, located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Population: 587,288 (1 January 2004).

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The River Ruhr flows to the south of the city and the Datteln-Hamm Canal to the north. The Dortmund-Ems Canal terminates in the large Dortmund Harbour - almost in the heart of the city centre.

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Dortmund is the home of the famous football club Borussia Dortmund (BVB 09), who plays home matches at the Westfalenstadion, which opened in 1974 and hosted some World Cup matches. Dortmund will also be one of the cities to host matches in the 2006 World Cup.

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Dortmund is known as Westphalia's "green metropolis". Nearly half the municipal territory consists of waterways, woodland, agriculture and green spaces with spacious parks such as Westfalenpark and the Romberg park. This after nearly a hundred years of extensive coal mining, coking, and steel milling within the city limits.

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The Christmas market (Weihnachtsmarkt) is one of the largest in Germany, and is host to the largest "christmas tree" in the world, formed by stacking hundreds of trees into the shape of a pyramid.

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City: :For alternate meanings see city (disambiguation)...

Bundesland: Bundesland (plural Bundesl?nder), also known as Land (plural L?nder) is the German language name for the federal states of Austria and Germany....

Ruhr area: The Ruhr Area (German Ruhrgebiet or, colloquially, Ruhrpott) is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, consisting of a number of large industrial cities bordered by the rivers Ruhr to the south, Rhine to the west, and Lippe to the north. Southwest it borders the Bergisches Land. The area...