title: Heiligenhaus
text: # Heiligenhaus
  
  Heiligenhaus (German pronunciation:) is a town in the district of Mettmann, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the suburban Rhine-Ruhr area. It lies between Düsseldorf and Essen.
  
  Bochum University of Applied Sciences (Hochschule Bochum, formerly Fachhochschule Bochum) has a branch in Heiligenhaus for the development of locking Systems.
  
  Heiligenhaus also contains the ancestral family farm of the acclaimed American author John Steinbeck.
  
  ## Twin towns – sister cities
  
  Heiligenhaus is twinned with:
  
  * Basildon, England, United Kingdom
  * Mansfield, England, United Kingdom
  * Meaux, France
  * Zwönitz, Germany
  