Experience Industrial Heritage

Following the "Route of Industrial Heritage" to the Highlights of the Ruhr Metropolis

By UNESCO World Heritage Zollverein

Tiger and Turtle – Magic Mountain, Duisburg. Large-scale sculpture by Heike Mutter and Ulrich GenthUNESCO World Heritage Zollverein

Industrial Heritage Trail

Blast furnaces and shaft facilities, machine halls, slag heaps and port cranes melt into the silhouette of the Ruhr Area. The industry has shaped this region, and up to this day, the past between coal and steel, coke and gas is clearly visible.

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Gasometer, OberhausenUNESCO World Heritage Zollverein

The outstanding monuments of this time can be discovered on the 400-kilometre road circuit of the Industrial Heritage Trail.

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LWL Industrial Museum, Henrichenburg Ship Lift, WaltropUNESCO World Heritage Zollverein

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).

Hoheward Landscape Park, Herten / RecklinghausenUNESCO World Heritage Zollverein

...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.

Former director´s house, LVR Industrial Museum, St. Antony Ironworks, OberhausenUNESCO World Heritage Zollverein

…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.

Portal of Industrial HeritageUNESCO World Heritage Zollverein

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.

Portal of Industrial Heritage - Display LWL Industrial MuseumUNESCO World Heritage Zollverein

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.

Hansa Coking Plant, DortmundUNESCO World Heritage Zollverein

The anchor points of the Industrial Heritage Trail

The main attractions of the Industrial Heritage Trail include the 27 anchor points: former heavy industry sites, which are now used, amongst other things, as museums, event locations, leisure facilities or commercial properties.

Aquarius Water Museum, MülheimUNESCO World Heritage Zollverein

They are places of experience and hubs in the route network of the Industrial Heritage Trail. Besides Zollverein, these include for example the Hansa Coking Plant in Dortmund, the Aquarius Water Museum in Mülheim or the Oberhausen Gasometer.

German Mining Museum, Bochum, From the collection of: UNESCO World Heritage Zollverein

Emscherblick Spoil Tip Event, Tetrahedron, Bottrop, From the collection of: UNESCO World Heritage Zollverein

Maximilian Park, Hamm, From the collection of: UNESCO World Heritage Zollverein

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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.

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