The anchor points of the Ruhr's Route der Industriekultur

Coke, pig iron, coal, electricity and beer all stopped being made at these sites, and the Regionalverband Ruhr then designated them the load-bearing nodes of a signposted network across the Ruhr, each marked with a yellow signal object and each the starting point for themed routes. The roster has grown by documented steps: Zeche Ewald joined in 2011, St. Antony-Hütte in 2019, Zechenpark Friedrich Heinrich in March 2021. Zollverein, inscribed by UNESCO in 2001, holds the central visitor centre and the Portal der Industriekultur.

Places in this collection

  • Innenhafen Duisburg — The Hafenforum was the first conversion carried out in the inner harbour under the Foster + Partners masterplan, and it has housed the harb…
  • Aquarius — The Styrum water tower, built in 1892/93 for August Thyssen, and its modern annexe hold a museum of water and water management, covering th…
  • Villa Hügel — 269 rooms across 8,100 square metres, built by Krupp as the family's representative seat in its own park above the Baldeneysee. The house s…
  • Eisenbahnmuseum Bochum-Dahlhausen — The largest privately run railway museum in Germany occupies the former locomotive depot at Dahlhausen, with historic vehicles and locomoti…
  • Henrichshütte — The last blast furnace was blown out in 1987 and is now the centrepiece of the museum, with a view from the top. Show operations including…
  • Zeche Nachtigall — The route's own material calls Nachtigall the cradle of Ruhr mining, and the site shows the earliest workings: the visitor mine is accessib…
  • LWL-Freilichtmuseum Hagen — Historic buildings were moved to this 42 hectare site in the Mäckingerbach valley and rebuilt as the Westphalian state museum of crafts and…
  • Hohenhof — The house was the home and the Gesamtkunstwerk of Karl Ernst Osthaus (1874-1921), and the hub of the Folkwang movement known as the Hagener…
  • Lindenbrauerei — Brewing ended and the buildings became a sociocultural centre on the edge of Unna's town centre, running concerts, cabaret, theatre, readin…
  • Maximilianpark — The park was laid out in 1984 as a Landesgartenschau on the grounds of the former Zeche Maximilian, and its landmark is the glass elephant,…
  • Kokerei Hansa — Coking ended and most of the plant stayed standing; the buildings have been partly restored and are opened on guided tours, while a free au…
  • Zeche Zollern — The corner turrets and battlements earned the colliery the nickname Schloss der Arbeit, and the machine hall with its Art Nouveau portal be…
  • Schiffshebewerk Henrichenburg — The lift was built in 1899 to raise and lower boats between canal levels and was taken out of service in 1969, after which it was converted…
  • Chemiepark Marl — The chemical works itself is closed to visitors. Access is a bus tour of an hour and a half that starts at the InformationsCenter in front…
  • Zeche Ewald — Ewald was added to the route as an anchor point in 2011, after mining ended and the grounds were redeveloped. The Besucherzentrum Hoheward,…
  • Umspannwerk Recklinghausen — The former substation on Uferstraße houses Museum Strom und Leben, built around the switchgear and the old control room, with household app…
  • Deutsches Bergbau-Museum — The demonstration mine below the building holds around 12 °C year round, and the winding tower above it carries a viewing platform at 71.40…
  • Jahrhunderthalle — Built in 1902 as an exhibition hall and then put to work as the blowing-engine house for the blast furnaces of the Bochumer Verein, the hal…
  • Kokerei Zollverein — The route's own guide records this as the most modern coking plant in Europe when it was working, and it was added to the World Heritage in…
  • Zeche Zollverein — The pit was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2001, and Zollverein now carries the route's central visitor centre with its Por…

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