Essen...some sights from the industrial heartland of Germany
 

These pics are from Essen's most famous landmarks. The city's located in western Germany at the heart of the Ruhrgebiet, itself an engine for Germany's industrial revolution and growth up until the slow demise of coal mining in the 70s. I'll start off with the city's two most famous sights (the Krupp residence Villa Hügel and the Zollverein coal mine). I'm sure in the future I'll take some more pics of the city's other faces as well.

First off we visit Villa Hügel, up until the end of WW2 residence of the Krupp family, by far the most prominent industrialist family/dynasty in Germany. They supplied Germany with its weapons for both world wars, railroads and anything else steel related.

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Villa Hügel

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Villa Hügel

View from the library towards the the mansion's garden:

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Villa Hügel[/size]

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Villa Hügel

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October Leaves

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Villa Hügel

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Villa Hügel

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Villa Hügel


Moving on to the Zollverein coal mine, up until the 80s one of the largest coal mines in the world and now a world heritage site. Just like so many other coal/rust regions around the world, the Ruhrgebiet is struggling to adapt to a changing economy.

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Zollverein

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Kokerei Zollverein

Yup, this facade's seen better days. As a lot of wealth has been moved east to restore buildings and infrastructure over there, the Ruhrgebiet with its high unemployment (sometimes topping 20%) has been left in a state of neglect:

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Essen

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Zollverein

A lot of money has been invested in the turnaround of the Zollverein world heritage site since that status was bestowed upon it by UNESCO. Part of this attempt to gain new sources of income has been the establishment of a new museum. The mix between industrialist and modern architecture is quite interesting (posted these pics someplace else before but they fit into this thread as well.

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Ruhr Museum

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Zollverein

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Zollverein

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Zollverein

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Zollverein / Ruhr Museum

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Zollverein

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Zeche Zollverein

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Ruhr Museum / Zeche Zollverein

more to come...

More from Zollverein:

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Zeche Zollverein

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Zeche Zollverein

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Kokerei Zollverein

Great photos!

Nice city - From the american rust belt to the rhine; Unity!

More Villa Hügel:

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Villa Hügel

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Villa Hügel

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Villa Hügel

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Villa Hügel

These are pretty nice.

You make Essen look quite beautiful, which is something of an accomplishment!

I have always wanted to visit the Zollverein.