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.
Villa Hügel
Villa Hügel
View from the library towards the the mansion's garden:
Villa Hügel[/size]
Villa Hügel
October Leaves
Villa Hügel
Villa Hügel
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.
Zollverein
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:
Essen
Zollverein