Paderborn

Just a little history about the city where I live now...


777: Charlemagne’s first Frankish
Imperial Assembly held on Saxon
ground. In this context, the first
documentary mention of Paderborn.
799: Meeting between Charlemagne
and Pope Leo III. in
Paderborn: foundation of the bishopric
and preliminary talks on
crowning Charlemagne Emperor.
836: Transfer of the relics of
St. Liborius from Le Mans to
Paderborn; foundation of the
oldest town twinning in Europe.
Ca. 1000: Paderborn is awarded
town status.
1295: Paderborn becomes a
member of the Hanseatic League.
14th century: Paderborn is made
a prince-bishopric.
1614: Foundation of the first
Westfalian university by Prince-
Bishop Dietrich von Fürstenberg.
1802: The prince-bishopric
Paderborn becomes part of the
French “Kingdom of Westphalia”.
1813/14: After the fall of Napoleon,
the former prince-bishopric
Paderborn is handed over to
the Kingdom of Prussia as part
of the “Province Westphalia”
(until 1933).
1929: Paderborn is made
an archbishopric.
1945: Large-scale destruction of
the old town due to massbombing.
After the war it was built up
again, industry and trade were
incorporated.
1972: Foundation of the
University of Paderborn.
1975: Paderborn becomes a “city”
(more than 100,000 inhabitants).
1996: Visit by Pope John Paul II.
1999: Festival of the 1200th anniversary
of the meeting between
Charlemagne and Pope Leo III.
and Jubilee of the Bishopric.
2006: Great Exhibition “Canossa
1077 - History, art and culture of
the Romanesque age”.