Solingen is a city in the hilly Bergisches Land region of North Rhine-Westphalia, east of Düsseldorf. For centuries it has been Germany's 'Klingenstadt' — the City of Blades — world-renowned for its finely crafted knives, scissors and cutlery.
High above the wooded Wupper valley stands the reconstructed Schloss Burg, the largest castle in western Germany, while the 107-metre Müngstener Brücke — Germany's highest railway bridge — arches across the river nearby. The old quarter of Gräfrath, the Deutsches Klingenmuseum and historic water-powered grinding mills complete the picture. Solingen has a population of about 160,000 people.