Olpe

Olpe is a town in the foothills of the Ebbegebirge in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, about 60 kilometers east of Cologne and 20 kilometers northwest of Siegen, with 24,518 residents as of December 31, 2025. It is the administrative seat of the Olpe district, part of the Arnsberg region, and lies in the Sauerland on the southern edge of the Ebbegebirge Nature Park, with the Biggesee reservoir, the largest in South Westphalia, to its north. First mentioned in 1220 and granted town rights in 1311, Olpe is overwhelmingly Catholic and has a long industrial history of iron foundries, hammerworks, tinsmithies and tanneries.