BRUHL

city, North Rhine-Westphalia Land (state), northwestern Germany, near the left bank of the Rhine River. It was a stronghold of the electors of Cologne (immediately north) from 1285 onward, and its Baroque Augustusburg Castle (1725), with extensive gardens and a famous staircase by Balthasar Neumann, was their summer residence. After 1945 the castle was often used by the federal government for official functions. A resort for the people of Cologne, the city is also a lignite-mining centre; its other industries include sugar refining and the manufacture of coal briquettes and automobiles. Pop. (1989 est.) 40,710.