DÜREN, a town of Prussia, at the head of a circle in the province of the Rhine, on the right bank of the Roer, at a railway junction eighteen miles east of Aix-la-Chapelle. Besides two Roman Catholic and two Protestant churches, it possesses three nunneries, a gymnasium, a mining, school, and a blind asylum—the Elizabeth Institution—which was founded in 1845 and in 1863 was made a provincial establishment. Woollen goods, paper, and needles are manufactured on an extensive scale; and flax-spinning, feltweaving, wire-weaving, rail-casting, and zinc-rolling are also carried on.

Düren is probably to be identified with the Marcodurum of the Ubii, where they were defeated by Civilis in 69 A.D. It received from Charlemagne the rank of an imperial city, and its claims were confirmed by Rupert in 14.07. Pawned by Frederick II. to Count William of Juliers as security for the payment of a debt, it was ultimately incorporated with the duchy of Juliers. Its name frequently occurs in the history of the Palatinate. Population in 1875, 14,542.