Germany (Lonely Planet, 6th Edition) - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [515]
Details are at www.route-industriekultur.de, or stop by the route’s central visitors’ centre ( 0180-400 0086; 10am-7pm Apr-Oct, 10am-5pm Nov-Mar) in the foyer of the Ruhr Museum at the Zollverein coal mine (below) in Essen. Information is also available at the visitors centre ( 429 1942; 10am-5pm Mon-Thu, 10am-9pm Fri-Sun Apr-Oct, reduced hr in winter) in the Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord.
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Sights
CITY CENTRE
Essen’s medieval Dom ( 220 4206; Burgplatz 2; admission free; 6.30am-6.30pm Mon-Fri, 9am-7.30pm Sat, 9am-8pm Sun) is an island of quiet engulfed by the commercialism of pedestrianised Kettwiger Strasse, the main shopping strip. It has a priceless collection of Ottonian works, all about 1000 years old. Not to be missed is a hauntingly beautiful Golden Madonna, set in her own midnight-blue chapel matching the colour of her eyes. The revamped treasury (adult/concession/family €4/2/8; 10am-5pm Tue-Sat, 11.30am-5pm Sun) presents more fancy baubles, including a crown worn by Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, in a modern, intimate fashion.
East of the cathedral, the grand Alte Synagoge ( 884 5218; Steeler Strasse 29; admission free; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) miraculously survived WWII largely intact. A memorial site since 1980, it was being revamped into a Jewish cultural centre and meeting place during our visit, but set to reopen in 2010.
MUSEUM FOLKWANG
A grand dame among Germany’s art repositories, the Museum Folkwang ( 884 5314; www.museum-folkwang.de; Goethestrasse 41; adult/concession/family €5/3.50/10.50, under 14yr free; 10am-8pm Tue-Sun) is taking up residence in sparkling new digs designed by British star architect David Chipperfield in spring 2010. Galleries radiate out from inner courtyards and gardens of the glass-fronted building, providing a progressive setting for such 19th- and 20th-century masters as Gauguin, Caspar David Friedrich and Mark Rothko.
ZECHE ZOLLVEREIN
The former Zollverein coal mine ( 830 3636; www.zollverein.de; Gelsenkirchener Strasse 181; visitors centre 10am-7pm Apr-Oct, 10am-5pm Nov-Mar) is a beautiful Bauhaus-style behemoth that was recognised as a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2001. In operation until 1986, it’s since been rebooted as a cultural hub with museums, performance spaces, artist studios, a fine restaurant (see Casino Zollverein, Click here) and some unusual playgrounds.
Start your visit at the former coal washing plant, which now provides an edgy setting for the Ruhr Museum ( 884 5200; www.ruhrmuseum.de, in German; adult/concession/family €5/3/10; 10am-6pm). Exhibits span the history of the Ruhr Region in an easily accessible and engaging fashion. Just as the coal was transported on conveyor belts, a long escalator whisks you up to the foyer from where you descend into the dark bowels of the building. With its raw stone walls, steep steel stairs, shiny aluminium ducts and industrial machinery, the space itself has all the drama and mystique of a movie set (Blade Runner comes to mind).
Another highlight is the Red Dot Design Museum ( 301 0425; adult/concession/family €5/3/15, under 12yr free; 11am-6pm Tue-Thu, 11am-8pm Fri-Sun) in the stoker’s hall, creatively adapted by Lord Norman Foster. In a perfect marriage of space and function, this four-storey maze showcases the best in contemporary design right amidst the original fixtures: bathtubs balancing on grated walkways, bike helmets dangling from snakelike heating ducts, and beds perching atop a large oven. All objects are winners of the Red Dot award, the ‘Oscar’ of the design world.
One of the most unusual experiences you can have on the grounds is a ride aboard the Ferris-wheel-like Sonnenrad (Sun Wheel; adult/under 12yr €1/free; noon-8pm Sat & Sun May–mid-Oct) through the smelters of the coking plant. From mid-December to mid-January, there’s an outdoor ice skating rink (€6.50), also at the coking plant.
Themed public tours (€4.50 to €15) zero in on the complex’s industrial heritage, its architecture and its art, but for now they’re in German