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Tourist office ( 189 990; www.dortmund-tourismus.de; Königswall 18a; 9am-6pm Mon-Fri, 9am-1pm Sat) Opposite the Hauptbahnhof’s south exit.

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Sights

DORTMUNDER U

You can see it from afar – the golden ‘U’ atop the tower of the defunct Union Brauerei. Once one of Dortmund’s largest and most famous breweries, the protected landmark is being reinvented as a ‘centre for art and creativity’. Three upper floors are the new home of the Museum am Ostwall ( 502 3247; www.museumamostwall.dortmund.de; cnr Rheinische Strasse & Brinkhoffstrasse), an art-world star thanks to its far-reaching collection of all major 20th- and 21st-century genres – expressionism to art informel, fluxus to op art to concrete art. For laypeople this translates into works by Macke, Nolde, Beuys and Paik, and living artists including Jochen Gerz and Anna and Bernhard Blume. It’s expected to open in May 2010.

MEDIEVAL CHURCHES

Commerce coexists beautifully with religious treasures in Dortmund’s city centre, just south of the Hauptbahnhof. The trio of churches described below conveniently line up along the pedestrianised Westenhellweg, a major trading route since the Middle Ages.

First up is the 14th-century Petrikirche, where the show-stopper is a massive Antwerp altar (1520) featuring 633 individually carved and gilded figurines in scenes depicting the Easter story. Note that the altar is closed in summer, exposing only the panels’ painted outer side.

Following Westenhellweg east, past the Krügerpassage, a shopping arcade built in 1912 in exuberant neo-Renaissance style, leads to the Reinoldikirche (1280), named after the city’s patron saint. As the story goes, after the man was martyred in Cologne, the carriage containing his coffin rolled all the way to Dortmund, stopping on the spot of the church. There’s a statue of him, opposite Charlemagne, at the entrance to the choir. Of outstanding artistic merit is the late-Gothic high altar (ask nicely in the sacristy for a close-up look). The bell tower can be climbed.

Across the street, Marienkirche is the oldest of Dortmund’s churches, and its Romanesque origins are still visible in the round-arched nave. The star exhibit here is the Marienaltar (1420), with a delicate triptych by local son Conrad von Soest. In the northern nave is the equally impressive Berswordt Altar (1385). Also note the rather frivolous wood reliefs on the choir stalls and the ethereal St Mary statue.

MUSEUM FÜR KUNST & KULTURGESCHICHTE

In a rambling art-deco bank building, the Museum für Kunst & Kulturgeschichte (Museum of Art & Cultural History; 502 6028; www.museendortmund.de; Hansastrasse 3; adult/concession €3/1.50, free Sat; 10am-5pm Tue, Wed, Fri & Sun, 10am-8pm Thu, noon-5pm Sat) is a repository of the kind of stuff that tracks the cultural history of a city. That might be boring were it not for such standout exhibits as sparkling Roman gold treasure, a Romanesque triumphal cross, period rooms and paintings by Caspar David Friedrich, Lovis Corinth and other outstanding artists.

MAHN- UND GEDENKSTÄTTE STEINWACHE

North of the Hauptbahnhof, just beyond the multiplex cinema, the Mahn- und Gedenkstätte Steinwache ( 502 5002; Steinstrasse 50; admission free; 10am-5pm Tue-Sun) uses the original rooms and cells of a Nazi prison as a backdrop for a bone-chilling memorial exhibit about Dortmund during the Third Reich. A free English-language pamphlet is available.

ZECHE ZOLLERN

The Zollern II/IV Coal Mine ( 696 1111; Grubenweg 5; adult/child/student €3.50/2/2.10; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun) was considered a ‘model mine’ when operation began in 1902. It boasted state-of-the-art technology and fantastic architecture, including an art nouveau machine hall and a castle-like administration building adorned with gables and onion-domed towers. An innovative exhibit documents the harsh realities of life as a miner, with plenty of interactive and child-oriented programs. To get here, take the