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Münster For other places with the same or similar names, and other uses of the word, see Munster (disambiguation) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. Population: 269.105 (30.06.2003), area 302.83 km².

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In 793 Charlemagne sent out as missionary the Frisian Liudger (later canonized) to convert the Saxons with whom he had been battling, offering as headquarters his recently demolished Frankish stronghold of b ("ford over the Aa river"), at the crossroads of the road from Cologne and the road to Frisia. Liutger was a product of Utrecht and the York school of Ethelbert, which produced many of the clerics who served in Charlemagne's chancelry. He built his church and cloister on the right bank of the Aa, on the : it was the monastery ("monasterium") from which Münster derives its name. In 805 Liudger travelled to Rome to be ordained a bishop, and soon founded a school. The combination of ford and crossroad, marketplace, episcopal administration center, library and school, established Münster as an important center [1].

In the Middle Ages Münster was a leading member of the Hanseatic League. In 1534 the Anabaptists took power in the Münster Rebellion and founded a democratic proto-socialistic state. The town was recaptured in 1535; the Anabaptists were tortured to death, their dead bodies were exhibited in cages, which still hang from St. Lamberti's steeple.

The signing of the Peace of Westphalia of 1648 at Münster and Osnabrück guaranteed the future of the prince-bishop and the diocese; the area was to be exclusively Roman Catholic.

In 1780 the University of Münster (Westphalian Wilhelms-University (WWU)) has been founded.

In 1802 Münster was conquered by Prussia during the Napoleonic Wars. It became the capital of the Prussian province of Westphalia.

In World War II Münster was mostly destroyed by Allied air raids, but it was rebuilt after the war in an ancient . From 1974 onward, the city was the residence of the American artist Moondog, who idolized postwar Germany.

Münster was part of West Germany during the Cold War.

In 2003, Münster hosted the Central European Olympiad in Informatics (CEOI).

In 2004, Münster won the LivCom-Award for Liveable Communities. See the leaflet (.pdf) and the 10-min.-long DivX-coded film: the 48mb-version or the 87mb-version from the official Münster-homepage

St Lambert's Church (1375); the cages, which once exhibited the bodies of the Anabaptists, still hang from the steepleCastle, built 1767-87 as residence for the bishop, now the administrative center for the University.