Münster

Münster is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in northwestern Germany, on the plain of Westphalia. In 1648 the treaties of the Peace of Westphalia, which ended decades of war in Europe, were signed in its town hall.

Münster grew around a monastery founded by Saint Liudger in the late 8th century, and the Latin word monasterium gave the city its name. It became the seat of a prince-bishop and a member of the Hanseatic League, and merchants built tall gabled houses with arcades along its market street. The university, founded in the 18th century, became a center of the city. Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, the poet, was born at a moated castle near the city. After the Second World War the old center was rebuilt on its old plan, with the gabled houses and the town hall restored.

Coppenrath, a publisher based in Münster, makes children's books and gifts, among them the Die Spiegelburg series. The insurance company LVM has its head office in the city.

The Prinzipalmarkt, the main street of the old town, is lined with arcaded merchant houses. The Hall of Peace in the town hall keeps the wood-paneled room where the peace was signed. Saint Paul's Cathedral, a Romanesque and Gothic church, has an astronomical clock of the 16th century that plays a tune at noon. Münster is known as a city of bicycles, with a ring of tree-lined paths on its old walls, called the Promenade, used by cyclists every day. Skulptur Projekte, an exhibition of outdoor sculpture held once a decade, has left works by artists in the streets and parks.