Experience Industrial Heritage
Following the "Route of Industrial Heritage" to the Highlights of the Ruhr Metropolis
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Waltrop
The imposing towers of the Henrichenburg Ship Lift have been rising up on the banks of the Dortmund-Ems Canal since 1899. Between them, a mighty steel structure forms a “lift”, which helps ships overcome the 14-metre-high water-level difference. Today, the ship lift is an industrial museum of Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe).
...Herten
The Hoheward Landscape Park is Europe’s largest slag heap landscape, created solely by coal mining. It offers an impressive summit experience with a 360-degree panorama. Additionally, there is an open-air planetarium with a horizon observatory and a sundial. At the western foot of the slag heap, there is the historical Ewald Colliery, one of the anchor points along the Industrial Heritage Trail.
…Oberhausen
The St. Antony Ironworks is the birthplace of the Ruhr industry. It was here in 1758, that pig iron flowed from a blast furnace for the first time in the Ruhr District. Today, the LVR Industrial Museum tells of the beginnings of the iron and steel industry, of significant innovations and the hard life of the people who worked there.
The Portal of Industrial Heritage
The main visitor centre of the Industrial Heritage Trail is located in the Coal Washery at Zollverein, where also the Portal of Industrial Heritage brings the Ruhr Area to life.
18 interactive stations and exciting exhibits tell stories about the former protagonists, how they used to work and live. It also presents nature and the cultural sites of today, inviting visitors to discover the region.
Film RUHR.360° at the Portal of Industrial HeritageUNESCO World Heritage Zollverein
Ruhr Area all around
The panorama film “RUHR 360°”, which is screened in one of the two Circular Thickeners in the Portal of Industrial Heritage, offers a moving introduction to the history of the Ruhr Area.
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And the viewing platform on the roof of the Coal Washery, the largest building at Zollverein, affords views in all directions, sweeping over the diversity of Zollverein, over industry and modern architecture of nearby towns, over culture and sports, slap heap landscapes and lots of greenery.
Ironbridge, Telford (GB)UNESCO World Heritage Zollverein
European Route of Industrial Heritage
The Zollverein UNESCO World Heritage Site is also an anchor point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH). This tourism information network, certified as a Cultural Route of the Council of Europe, presents more than 2.000 industrial heritage sites in all European countries.
Tyskie Brewing Museum, Tychy (PL)UNESCO World Heritage Zollverein
They include both the significant milestones of European industrial history and less known sites, which have been made accessible to visitors. All together, they tell the fascinating history of the places, processes and people that make up the industrial heritage as an important part of the common European identity.
