Welcome to Aachen!
We are happy to welcome you in Aachen for the Healthy Buildings 2023 Europe Conference! For a better overview of the relevant venues, we created a map that you can view here.
Aachen is well known for being home to the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in Germany - Aachen Cathedral - and the large number of young people, whom you see wherever you go. Aachen is a cosmopolitan town with historical flair that has a unique appeal because of its location in the border triangle with the Netherlands and Belgium. The optimal location of the town – in the west of North-Rhine Westphalia, on the edge of the Eifel and the Hohe Venn and near the cities of Cologne, Düsseldorf and Bonn – makes Aachen the perfect starting point for city trips and excursions into nature. The town itself is known, among others, for the Aachener Printen, a variety of gingerbread originating from Aachen.
One of Germany's leading institutes of higher education in technology, the RWTH Aachen University (Rheinisch-Westfälisch Technische Hochschule Aachen), is located in the city. Its university hospital Uniklinik RWTH Aachen is Europe's largest single-building hospital. Aachen's industries include science, engineering and information technology, and in 2009, Aachen was ranked eighth among cities in Germany for innovation.
During the Healthy Buildings 2023 Europe Conference, Aachen will also host the Aachen pilgrimage – a unique experience, not only for believing Christians, that takes place every seven years. For over 660 years people have been making the pilgrimage, known as the "Heiligtumsfahrt", to Aachen. Their goal is to honour four relics, which have been kept as treasure in Aachen Cathedral since the time of Charlemagne. History has it that Charlemagne was given the relics as a present from Jerusalem around 800 AD. Since 1349, the relics have been removed from the golden Marienschrein in Aachen Cathedral once every seven years and put on display for the faithful of Europe and around the world for a period of ten days. It is a joyful celebration of faith for young and old, which will bring together pilgrims from all over the world.
