Industrial Heritage Trail

When this card plopped through my letterbox I did a little happy dance. I love looking around sites from the industrial past.  This card celebrates the Route Industriekultur which is a thematic tourist route of the most important and most attractive monuments in the Ruhr, Germany. There are bike trails and holiday routes but here I take a postcard journey.  On the back is a faint map but lets journey from left to right:

Top Row

• Henrichshütte Hattingen - Former steel mill now a museum. Built in 1854 poor transportation links eventually led to its closure in the 1990s

• Zeche Nachtigall Witten or Nightingale Collery, a coal mine, part of a mining trail

• Schiffshebewerk Henrichenburg - A boat lift on the Dortmund-Ems Canal (I would love to see this piece of intricate engineering working)

• Lindenbrauerel Unna - Linden Brewery which brewed Unna Linden beers from 1859-1979. One can still stop off here for a refreshing beer because they started to brewing this naturally cloudy beer again in 2002 to serve in the restaurant. The building is also used for concerts and exhibitions.

Middle Row

• Zeche Zollern Dortmund - A photo of only part of the opulent frontage which looks like a house but is actually a pit west of Dortmund. Called the Castle of Work it was almost demolished in the 1960s after closure but its gardens and buildings are now a museum of industry, a social and cultural history.

• Frellichtmuseum Hagen - An open air museum of crafts and technology from the 18th to 20th Century set in a scenic valley. There are 60 workshops such as forges and rope-making together with shops selling the produce made, such as smoked meats, bread and, yes, another place to stop for beer. 

• Glaselefant Hamm - The Glass Elephant was a coal washing plant but has been turned into an elephant by the artist Horst Rellecke, inside a garden, art exhibitions and robotic animals.

• Deutsche Beregbau; Museum Bochum - Mining museum, research centre of mining history and open mine.

Bottom Row

• Aquarius Mülheim - Water Museum located in a disused water tower. Originally built for Thyssen in 1892/93 to supply their nearby tube and rolling mills. Now a museum is on 14 levels with a ride in a glass elevator which travels through a 5000,000 litre water tank.

• Zeche Zollverein Essen - Coal mine operating 1847-1986 in Essen.  Since 2001 it has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

• Gasometer Oberhausen - Built in the 1920s this gasometer it is now a landmark of Oberhausen. There seem to be many installations inside and it is described as a "Cathedral of Industry".  Great night view and info here

• Duisburg Ruhrart - Museum of German Inland Navigation, at the heart of the largest river port complex in Europe. Museum founded  in 1974 with the purchase of the ship shown, the Oscar Huber

My sender lives in the Nord-Rhein Westfalen region which if my geography is right  includes the Ruhr, she doesn't say whether she has visited any of these sights but perhaps her other interests take her time.

The card came with

a pretty marigold (Tagetes) and one the four April 2010 'Post' stamps showing an angel and envelope. The words at the bottom Mit Guten Wünschen mean With Best Wishes.  An ongoing series over several years, I like this theme it has produced some attractive stamps.

Thank you Mecki. As you may guess I think this card is rather wonderful.