Current Time in Bielefeld, Germany

Bielefeld is a city in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, set where the wooded ridge of the Teutoburg Forest is broken by a natural pass. This gap in the hills gave the settlement its purpose, since the medieval trade route between the Rhineland and northern Germany funnelled through it, and the modern city still spreads along both sides of the ridge. The forested slopes come close to the centre, and walking trails begin within a few minutes of the main streets.

Around three hundred and forty thousand people live in Bielefeld, making it the largest city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe region and one of the twenty biggest in Germany. Its economy has been built on food production, mechanical engineering, printing and household goods. The best known company is Dr. Oetker, founded here in 1891 and now a global food group, alongside Seidensticker in clothing and a range of engineering firms. Bielefeld is also home to Bethel, one of Europe's largest social and medical institutions, which has cared for people with disabilities and epilepsy since the nineteenth century and employs thousands of staff.

The town was founded around 1214 by Count Hermann IV of Ravensberg, who built Sparrenburg castle on the ridge above to control the pass. Bielefeld prospered in the late Middle Ages as a member of the Hanseatic League and above all through linen, which remained the basis of its wealth into the industrial era, when mechanised spinning mills made it a major textile centre. Heavy bombing in the Second World War destroyed much of the old town, and the postwar city was largely rebuilt, though pockets of historic architecture survive.

Sparrenburg fortress remains the emblem of the city, its tower offering wide views across the rooftops and forest, with underground casemates open to visitors. The Old Town Hall and City Theatre, both built in an exuberant early twentieth century style, face each other on the central square, and the Gothic Church of Saint Nicholas and the Neustädter Marienkirche preserve medieval art. The Kunsthalle Bielefeld, a cubic building by the American architect Philip Johnson, holds an important collection of modern art, and the local history museum occupies a former spinning mill.

Bielefeld enjoys a peculiar national fame through the Bielefeld Conspiracy, a long-running internet joke claiming that the city does not actually exist. Residents take it in good humour, and the city has embraced the story in its own marketing. Beyond the joke, cultural life includes a well-regarded theatre and opera, a lively student scene, and the Arminia Bielefeld football club, whose supporters are known for their loyalty through many promotions and relegations.

The city is well connected, with intercity trains reaching Berlin, Hanover and Cologne, the A2 motorway passing nearby, and a modern Stadtbahn light rail network serving the districts. Bielefeld University, opened in 1969 and known for sociology and interdisciplinary research, together with a large university of applied sciences, gives the city more than thirty thousand students.

Bielefeld combines forest scenery, industrial heritage, a strong social tradition and a self-deprecating sense of humour, making it an unexpectedly engaging German city.