2023-08-27 14:57:00
Basically, the Ruhr basin is quite simply the largest industrial region in Western Europe and a gigantic conurbation of 53 cities and more than 5 million inhabitants. It might seem suicidal to begin an article that is supposed to invite you on a journey with these details, but as everyone knows, the era of European coal and steel is over and the region has completely succeeded in its reconversion. It has become a melting pot of culture with multiple museums and the once smoking behemoths of steel can be just as exciting a playground, if not more for your dear little ones, than many cities of art.
The region begins about fifty kilometers north of Cologne, in other words at the gates of Belgium, but the home port that we have chosen to radiate is located between the two: in Düsseldorf.
Düsseldorf is a rich and dynamic city, looking to the future. The MedienHafen or “middle port” is the business district, but also a high place of contemporary architecture in Europe, where audacious buildings rub shoulders with successful renovations, around two basins that invite you to stroll. You will get an overview by climbing to 164 meters on the panoramic terrace of the RheinTurm, a telecommunications tower that is 75 more.
Have you ever walked on the ceiling? Then don’t miss the In Orbit installation by Tomás Saracen, at the K21 Museum in Düsseldorf. ©Pierre Gilissen
Not far from there is the K21 museum, dedicated to the art of the 21st century (in fact, after 1980). Beyond the works presented, the most spectacular attraction is undoubtedly the installation In Orbit by Tomás Saraceno, which will allow you, after having put on an ad hoc combination, to walk, stand up or on all fours, according to your aptitude. balanced on nets about twenty meters above the entrance hall. But if your tastes lead you to more contemplative activities, the artistic highlight of Düsseldorf is undoubtedly the counterpart of the K21 devoted to the 20th century, located in the old town, the K20: undoubtedly one of the most beautiful collections in Europe, from Kandinsky to Picasso via Jackson Pollock or our national Magritte. As for the old town itself, it deserves a stroll but there are certainly better preserved sets in the country.
The blast furnace is one of the major attractions of Landschaftspark Duisburg. ©Pierre Gilissen
The actual Ruhr Gate is located a little further north, at the confluence of the river with the Rhine, in Duisburg. Duisburg is the largest river port in Europe, ahead of… Liège. Its main attraction is the Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord: 200 hectares of industrial wasteland around a former steelworks, wasteland left largely in its own juice and whose main points of attraction are the blast furnace and the gasometer. There are several ways to understand this site: take a guided tour to better understand how this jumble of towers, pipes, valves and tanks works; roam freely (the site is free) to track down “the” good photo; or take advantage of the more fun activities that are set up: climbing and diving in particular.
Tiger and Turtle, in Duisburg, or modern art within reach of children. ©Pierre Gilissen
We will then jump to the other side of the city to frolic on Tiger and Turtle, a sort of roller coaster made of steel stairs perched on top of a mound, the work of Heike Mutter and Ulrich Genth.
The Zollverein in Essen has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. ©Pierre Gilissen
Further in the Ruhr, Essen, another large industrial city, is home to the former Zollverein coal mine, transformed into a multi-activity site including a very comprehensive Ruhr museum, largely devoted to mining. The site, here also very large, also houses a former coking plant, various workshops and art galleries as well as a design museum. One will not fail to take the elevated walkways, with their old ore transport systems, which connect certain parts of the site. The Zollverein ensemble, with its Bauhaus-style buildings, is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The Folkwang Museum in Essen presents a magnificent collection of modern art. ©Pierre Gilissen
And then here too, in the center of the city, a magnificent painting museum devoted to modern art, even if its collections are not as large as those of the K20: the Folkwang museum. A must for fans of German Expressionism (Otto Dix, Max Beckmann…)
The spectacular Wuppertal suspended metro. ©Pierre Gilissen
There are still many other towns in the Ruhr that offer attractions – Oberhausen and its gasometer, Bochum and its coal mining, Dortmund and its football museum… – but we chose to end our journey in another valley. a little further south, in Wuppertal. A few tens of kilometers from Düsseldorf, Wuppertal presents a face almost opposite in every way to the Rhine metropolis: a working-class town, surrounded by slightly Ardennes hills, which stretches in a steep-sided valley along a river that has remained quite wild – the Wupper – and of which a large part of the 19th century building has remained intact. The old working-class district of Ölberg, the largest in Germany, has even been listed as a historic monument. But the main attraction here, for the big kids that we are in any case, is the Schwebebahn, a metro suspended like a cable car and which travels 13 km in the city, very often above the Wupper but sometimes in the middle of the street, at the level of the first floor of the old houses. The oldest will remember that it was immortalized by Wim Wenders in his Alice in the cities.
4 good reasons to visit the Ruhr area
The industrial heritage
This huge industrial basin is certainly also one of those which has been most successful in its conversion. The industrial complexes of yesteryear have become recreation areas and their excess makes them a great spectacle accessible to all.
Ease of access
Not only is the Ruhr at the gates of Belgium, but the whole region is served by an exceptional network of trains, trams and buses. Trains connect the cities of the region every quarter of an hour and a dense network of public transport serves all the tourist sites, so that it is perfectly possible to visit everything while staying in Düsseldorf.
The kitchens of the world
Düsseldorf is surprisingly cosmopolitan for a medium-sized city and this is reflected in its gastronomic offer. During our wanderings, we came across an Uyghur restaurant, another Korean restaurant specializing in desserts or even Hawaiian poke bowls. But of course, hearty German cuisine is also widely represented in the old town. And for the more festive: the city’s night scene is also renowned.
Museums
In this region with a climate comparable to that of Belgium (you can’t have everything), you will never be short of things to do: whether your tastes lead you to the arts or to more concrete aspects of life, you You will always find a museum to suit you, the Germans having seemed to us to be particularly gifted for scenography.
How to get there
By train
The best solution. Allow two hours by ICE train (the German fast trains) to Cologne from Brussels, via Liège, and an additional half hour to Düsseldorf.
By car
Düsseldorf is 200 km from Brussels via the E314 and Roermond, in the Netherlands. Most Walloons will rather go through Liège and the E40.
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