Nordkirchen Castle (Schloss Nordkirchen) is the largest palace with a moat in the region of Westphalia. The present palace, also known as “Versailles of Westphalia”, dates back to the 18th century.
Tag: North Rhine-Westphalia
Gasometer in Oberhausen
The Gasometer in Oberhausen is the largest disc-type gasholder in Europe. Today, it serves as an exhibition hall. Visitors enjoy an excellent view after reaching the top by an elevator or a staircase outside the building.
Jahrhunderthalle in Bochum
The Jahrhunderthalle is a venue for such famous events like the Ruhrtriennale. Interesting detail: The hall was constructed on top of an existing plant. After that, the soil was risen up to the level of the hall. So the first plant became part of the basement.
Zeche Zollverein in Essen
The Zeche Zollverein (Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex) is considered a World Heritage Site and an anchor point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage. Its iconic headframe is a known landmark in the city of Essen.
Ruhr Museum in Essen
Museeum geeks find the Ruhr Museum in the former coal preparation plant at the Zeche Zollverein. On several floors, it tells the story of the Zeche (coal mine) and portrays the history of the Ruhrgebiet (Ruhr Area).
Drachenburg Castle
Drachenburg Castle (Schloss Drachenburg) is a late 19th-century building in the style of a fairy-tale palace. Its founder was Baron Stephan von Sarter, a broker and banker. You have the depicted view from the terrace of the nearby Petersberg Grand Hotel.
U-Turm Bilderuhr in Dortmund
The landmark of Dortmund is the big U on top of a former brewery building. Today the building houses besides others the Museum Ostwall and some exhibition rooms. The elements looking like mosaics are actually movies shown high over the city.
Pithead bath in Dortmund
A detail I was especially impressed in. At the coking plant Hansa I saw a pithead bath. In this hall the workers put their clothes in special frameworks. Each framework is movable up and down by a chain.
Kokerei Hansa in Dortmund
Kokerei Hansa is a former coking plant in Dortmund. Today the plant houses a huge climbing gym named Kletterhalle Bergwerk and the remaining installations can be visited by guided tours.
Sundheimer Huhn at Zeche Zollern
In earlier times German miners used to have a small garden for vegetable and animals behind their homes. While strolling around a mining settlement next to the colliery Zeche Zollern I came across this special breed of chickens. In German they are called Sundheimer.
Big Air Package by Christo in Oberhausen
Every year another interesting art project takes place at the Gasometer (a former gas holder) in Oberhausen. In 2013 I visited the ‘Big Air Package’ created by Christo. This time the artist, who is generally known for wrapping huge things, produced a kind of balloon filling the inside of the gas holder.
Torpedo car in Duisburg
On my night stroll through the Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord, an industrial heritage park in Ruhr area, I came across this torpedo car. These cars are used for hauling molten pig iron from the blast furnace to the next processing unit.