Kessenich is a village in the Belgian province Limburg. It is a section of the municipality of Kinrooi, lying in the eastern end of the municipality.
Kessenich is the end of the Grensmaas, the part of the Meuse who forms a natural border with the Dutch province Limburg. This river separates Kessenich from Stevensweert. In the north lie the Dutch villages of Thorn, Ittervoort and Neeritter. In the south lies Maaseik. The region of Kessenich is dissected by several rivers: the Abeek, the Itterbeek and Witbeek on their way to the Meuse.
East of Kessenich is an area with several ponds, the Maasplassen. They were created by large-scale exploitation of gravel from 1949. The gravel layer with a thickness of up to 10 m, was deposited by the Meuse, which repeatedly moved to the east. In May 2008 ended the gravel mining and began the partial attenuation of the lakes. Now, some Maasplassen are equipped for recreation or nature.
Its name is derived from the Gallo-Roman Cassiniacum. Kessenich is also named as Kesnic (1102), Kasnech (1132), Casselin or Cassenic (1155), Kessenich (1219) and Cessenic (1224). Later, it's also identified on maps as Kessingen (1573) and Kesnick (1754). In Limburgish it's still called 'Kesing'.
Kessenich is a district of the former German capital city Bonn. It is best known for the German confectionery company Haribo.
Kessenich is one of the southern districts of the Stadtbezirk Bonn in Bonn, with Venusberg and Poppelsdorf bordering to the west, Gronau to the east, Südstadt to the north and Dottendorf to the south. It is connected with the inner city (Bonn-Zentrum) and Bonn central station by tramlines 61 and 62.
Kessenich is one of the oldest districts of today's Bonn. The first documented mention dates from the 9th century. In the 15th century it was the largest village of the Amt Bonn. Kessenich was incorporated to Bonn in 1904.
At times when Bonn was the capital of Western Germany the Rosenburg in Kessenich was the place of the German Ministry of Justice.
The confectionery company Haribo was founded in the year 1920 in Kessenich by Hans Riegel. The first place of production was in the Bergstraße, not far away from where one of Haribo's factorys is still today.