More about Osnabrück
Region and Climate Regional Significance Art and Culture Tourist Information
The City of Osnabrück is located in Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), the second largest state in the Federal Republic of Germany. Lower Saxony has many different types of scenery, from the North Sea islands with their fresh sea air, to lonely moors, to the Harz mountains, which feature winter sports and guaranteed snow. The climate is damp; in summer, temperatures can reach 25°C– sometimes even higher. Winters can be cold, with occasional snow. There is rain throughout the year. Heavy storms can occur in February and during the fall months, so don’t forget to pack your umbrella and coat!
As the center of an economic region of about 1.2 million inhabitants, Osnabrück has always played a leading role. The third-largest city in Lower Saxony owes its existence to Charlemagne and his propitious choice of the site more than twelve hundred years ago. In 780, he founded a diocese at the intersection of ancient trade routes. Even to this day, this is a crossroads for routes from Scandinavia to Western Europe and from the Netherlands to Eastern Europe.
With a population of about 165,000 inhabitants, Osnabrück is a key location in western Lower Saxony. As a diocese as well as a university and industrial city, it is of great regional significance.
If you’re interested in culture, you’ll find a great deal of it in Osnabrück. The large city theater (Städtische Bühnen), the studio-sized emma theater, and the OsnabrückHalle offer extensive theater and concert programs.
The Osnabrück Symphony Orchestra also enjoys a good reputation beyond the city limits.
Those interested in the visual arts will find an excellent museum at the Kunsthalle Dominikanerkirche. The Felix-Nussbaum-Haus is also worth visiting. It is home to the world’s largest collection of paintings by Nussbaum, a painter born in 1904 in Osnabrück and murdered in Auschwitz in 1944 . Daniel Libeskind’s design for the museum has won international recognition.
The name of Erich-Maria Remarque is also closely connected with Osnabrück. Born in Osnabrück, the author achieved worldwide fame with his 1929 book, "All Quiet on the Western Front". The City awards the Remarque Peace Prize in his honor. Research on Remarque, which has been carried out at the University for many years, led to the 1996 opening of the Erich-Maria-Remarque-Friedenszentrum, an institution jointly operated by the City and the University.
The Tourist Information center (Bierstraße 22-23, 49074 Osnabrück) is where guests, visitors, and citizens can obtain information about sightseeing and events in Osnabrück.
