Fresh on the table
Area Essen
The Ruhr visitor centre on the Zollverein World Cultural Heritage site is the starting point for visitors to discover the whole metropolitan area. From here it is a quick and easy journey to the neighbouring towns of Gelsenkirchen, Bottrop and Gladbeck.
The Schalke football arena, the “Musiktheater im Revier” and the “Nordsternpark”, an open-air cultural and industrial heritage venue and the gateway to the Emscher art island, make Gelsenkirchen a “must” for every visitor to the Ruhr. Likewise Bottrop (with its remarkable landmark, the Tetrahedron, the Josef Albers Museum and the open-air amphitheatre at the top of the Haniel spoil tip), and Gladbeck with its new Martin Luther Forum and the RuhrTriennale venue, the Zweckel Engine House, will also play an important role in the Capital of Culture programme.
World Cultural Heritage – art and creativity in the Ruhr
The Essen Philharmonic Hall, Photo: Manfred Vollmer
The dynamic city of Essen is the cultural powerhouse of the Ruhr Metropolis the Zollverein pit in the north of the city – it was once the largest, most beautiful and efficient colliery in the world – is not only a UNESCO world cultural heritage site but also a major design centre.
As such Essen is the metropolitan centre of art and design. What was once the largest mining city in Europe has undergone a rapid transformation. The former synonym for heavy industry has long since found a creative lightness, and is now an exciting, highly diverse magnet for a young and up-and-coming audience.
Essen is the Folkwang city. The Folkwang Museum and the Folkwang Academy are far more than internationally enowned cultural institutions. The Folkwang philosophy, as developed by its patron Karl Ernst Osthaus, was new and revolutionary at the start of the 20th century. Osthaus regarded the social reality of the industrial region as a basis for a new understanding of art and life. Just as new ideas in art and culture can only be created by marrying different genres, all sections of the population should be included in this process. In the “Folkwang” – the Hall of the People – the arts should be addressed to an audience that does not discriminate either on the grounds of origin or education. Cultural confidence and innovative art should not be regarded as elite offerings for the few, but as a basic element in everyone’s life. This deeply democratic philosophy has lost none of its fascination over the years. The Folkwang ideas of tolerance, its demands for integration, creative intermixtures and the freedom of the spirit can be felt all over the Ruhr metropolitan area and in the city of Essen between the Old Synagogue and the Cathedral, Villa Hügel and the Zollverein pit, the Folkwang Museum and the “Unperfekthaus” (Imperfect House) in a very special way.
The Essen culture trail, made up of blue glass stones embedded in the pavement, guides visitors along the path of art in public places and cultural institutions like the Aalto Theatre and the Philharmonic Hall in the city park.