Theodor Heuss, the first Federal President of Germany from 1949 to 1959, was a recognised expert on art and considered Münster to be Germany's most beautiful city. This is an opinion shared by countless tourists too, who are impressed by the charisma of the old capital of Westphalia. Its origins stretch back to the days of Charlemagne. The Frisian missionary Ludger began to evangelise the region in the year 792. Münster is famous as an early centre of religion in the north-west of Germany, as a trading and Hanseatic city, as a hot spot of the Anabaptist movement, as a venue for negotiations to end the Thirty Years' War, as the capital of a Prussian province, as a cultural magnet for the region, as the seat of one of Germany's biggest universities and as an administrative and industrial city. Nowadays, the Westphalian metropolis with its more than 300,000 inhabitants also prides itself as being one of Germany's most attractive cities. This is regularly confirmed by surveys and international honours. The opportunities for learning as well as the recreational and cultural programs make just as big a contribution here as the living environment, and not least the variety of consumer products on offer. sakriti opis