Osnabrück

Episcopal and university city in Lower Saxony, Germany; 115 km/71 mi west of Hannover; population (2005 est) 163,800. Industries include engineering, cables, steel, textiles, clothing, paper, and food processing. The Treaty of Westphalia was signed at Osnabrück and Münster in 1648, ending the Thirty Years' War.

Osnabrück bishopric was founded by Charlemagne in 783. A type of rough fabric, osnaburg, was originally made here. Osnabrück contained fine examples of Gothic and Renaissance architecture, but suffered heavy bomb damage during World War II. After the war it was one of the main military centres in the British zone of occupation.

History Osnabrück belonged to the Hanseatic League. By the Treaty of Westphalia (signed in the Rathaus), the see was ruled alternately by Roman Catholic and Protestant bishops. There is a fine Gothic cathedral (founded at the end of the 8th century, taking its present form in the 13th century), and there are other medieval churches, and a Gothic Rathaus. The palace of the prince-bishops (1668–90) is now occupied by the university.