Rath is a borough in northern Düsseldorf District 6, near the airport, with 16,975 inhabitants (2000). It is about 5 km northeast of the city center.
The Rath area was occupied since at least the Mesolithic. Flint artifacts from the Neolithic and pottery and dwellings from the Bronze Age have been found in Düsseldorf-Rath. In the Iron Age Rath was a center for the Hallstatt Celtic culture, and a ceremonial site has been excavated.
Historically, Rath was mentioned as early as 1375, but Rath and its environs remained rural and agricultural until 1897 with the establishment of the Mannesmann Röhren Gross Lager Gmbh tube rolling mill, which created the industrial character that the borough retains even today. In 1909 Rath together with Unterrath and Lichtenbroich were incorporated into Düsseldorf at their own request. Recently Düsseldorf office parks have started to take advantage of the less expensive land in Rath coupled with its excellent transportation network.
The new ISS Dome is a multipurpose stadium which opened in September 2006. It is located on Theodorstraße and seats up to 13,400 spectators. It is conveniently located near the A52 autobahn (motorway) and will have a large parking garage attached. The ISS-Dome will be the new home of the Düsseldorfer EG, today known as DEG Metro Stars, an ice hockey club that has had lots of success, including six German championships.
Rath's two train stations, Düsseldorf-Rath Mitte and Düsseldorf-Rath, are on the Ruhr Valley Railway and are served by line S6 trains of the Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn (operated by the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr, VRR) on the Cologne-Essen route. They are only nine to twelve minutes from the main station in downtown Düsseldorf.