Because of its central location in the Ruhr, Essen is often regarded as the Ruhr's "secret capital". The central and northern boroughs of Essen historically belong to the Low German Westphalian dialects area, and the south of the city to the Low Franconian Bergish area. Essen is seat to several of the region's authorities, as well as to eight of the largest publicly held German corporations by revenue, including three DAX -listed corporations.
Essen is often considered the energy capital of Germany with E. Essen is also known for its impact on the arts through the respected Folkwang University of the Arts , its Zollverein School of Management and Design, and the Red Dot industrial product design award. In early , the universities of Essen and the nearby city of Duisburg both established in were merged into the University of Duisburg-Essen with campuses in both cities and a university hospital in Essen.
In , Essen was chosen as the seat to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Essen , often referred to as the diocese of the Ruhr Ruhrbistum.
Founded around , Essen remained a small town within the sphere of influence of an important ecclesiastical principality , Essen Abbey , until the onset of industrialization.
The city thenβespecially through the Krupp family's iron worksβbecame one of Germany's most important coal and steel centres. Essen, until the s, attracted workers from all over the country; it was the fifth-largest city in Germany between and , peaking at over , inhabitants in Following the region-wide decline of heavy industries in the last decades of the 20th century, the city has seen the development of a strong tertiary sector of the economy. The most notable witness of this structural change Strukturwandel is the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex , which had once been the largest of its kind in Europe.
