Every design for Gummersbach

Gummersbach sits in the wooded hills of the Bergisches Land, some fifty kilometres east of Cologne, with the River Agger running through it on its way to the Sieg. Forests and reservoirs fill the country around the town: the Aggertalsperre takes its name from the river, and the Genkeltalsperre, a source of drinking water, reaches partly onto Gummersbach's own land. Rounded summits such as Nordhelle, Hohbäule and Brunsberg rise above the scattered villages.

Ask anyone who grew up here and they will mention the rain, the snow that falls more often than in Cologne, and handball nights cheering on VfL Gummersbach. The Steinmüller works once took up half the town centre; when they closed, the town bought the land, and an arena, a shopping centre and a university campus now stand where boilers were built. The old nickname, Klein-Paris, still raises a smile.

At the centre stands the Alte Vogtei, the former residence of the Vogt that locals simply call the castle: a stout little emblem for a hill town that has reinvented itself and kept its character.