The preparations are running flat out. In a few weeks time the Ruhr Area will present itself as the European Cultural Capital Ruhr2010. The whole region plans to attract attention to itself in the coming year as an exciting cultural metropolis full of contrasts. Some 300 projects and more than 2,500 events will take place under the motto: ‘Change through culture – culture through change’. Authentic places where visitors can experience the mythology and history of the Ruhr area in a very lively manner will be centre stage throughout the coming year. Whether high-level exhibitions, unusual productions or impressive installations – the Cultural Capital will offer meetings and congresses plenty of wonderful opportunities for unique social and accompanying programmes. Many of the Ruhr2010 ‘Showplaces’ will still be available as multi-faceted and useful (high-) cultural venues long after the European Cultural Capital year has run its course. Indeed, they will grant meetings, incentives and congresses a special context, atmosphere and feeling.
New Museums in the Ruhr Metropolis
While some cultural locations in the Ruhr Area have already been woken to new life, others are being diligently worked upon as we write: e.g. the Folkwang Museum in Essen where a new wing is being added. This museum is due to re-open end-January 2010. It is one of Germany’s most renowned art museums. Art lovers can look forward to three special exhibitions and masterpieces from world-famous artists such as Kandinsky and Matisse, Kirchner and Marc in the European Cultural Capital. The Ruhrlandmuseum in Essen will be open to visitors once again after relocating to the former Zollverein Colliery coal washing building. The exciting history of the Ruhr area will be presented in a building that couldn’t be a more spectacular home for a museum. Art lovers will have to wait until May 2010 in Dortmund when the ‘Dortmunder U’ opens its doors. This is a Ruhr2010 Lighthouse Project. The prominent 70-metre high former Union Brewery brewing- and storehouse will act as the centre-point of an 80,000 square metre creative quarter: a museum for 20th and 21st century art will move into the spectacular building under the golden and gleaming U. The seventh floor – a unique room in the so-called cathedral – offers many possibilities for events. Not only these and other museums of the new RuhrKunstMuseen (RKM -RuhrArtMuseums) coalition offer impressive settings for unusual meetings and incentives – but also other architectural relics of the region’s industrial history as well.
UNESCO Weltkulturerbe Zeche Zollverein, Meetings amid Mining Myths
The Zollverein Colliery and Coking Plant in Essen are counted among the most important industrial heritage sites. Formerly one of the most modern collieries in the world, the Zollverein is now a UNESCO World Heritage site and therefore one of only three industrial locations listed by UNESCO alongside Cologne Cathedral, the Pyramids and the Taj Mahal. The imposing colliery complex was constructed in pure Bauhaus style. Today, it serves as a centre for art and design and offers forty rooms, halls and buildings with a total events area of 14,000 square metres. A very special ‘jewel in the crown’ is the red dot design museum which star architect Lord Norman Foster integrated with instinctive feeling into the old boiler house.
Dine like royalty in the Palace of Work
Undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and most unusual witnesses of Germany’s industrial past is the Zollern Colliery in Dortmund. It has magnificent brick facades, opulent crenellated gables and corner towers surrounding a green forecourt. This ‘palace of work’ looks more like an aristocratic residence than a mining pit. Besides the museum, the decorative colliery ensemble in the west of Dortmund offers meetings and events planners an almost regal industrial ambience for conferences and congresses.
Stages like Cathedrals
And in comparison, the Duisburg North Landscape Park (Landschaftspark Duisburg Nord) effuses mysticism and dramatics. The areal around the former smelting works is regularly transformed into one of the most fascinating places in the whole of Germany at the onset of twilight when the over ninety year old high furnace complex is clothed in colourful light. The building complex – which is frequently used for films – also offers a daytime backdrop for events of all descriptions: the 170 metre long power centre – the nave of the industrial cathedral – offers space alone for up to 4,000 persons. Rooming in the Bochum Jahrhunderthalle (Century Hall) is just as generous. It was constructed in 1902 with an airy steel construction and served as an exhibition hall for the Dusseldorf Industrial Show. After that, it was re-converted back into the Bochum Cast Steel Works and employed as a blasting hall for the high ovens. Nowadays, it is one of the most impressive and innovative festival halls in Europe and a central performance location for the ‘RuhrTriennale’ music and theatre festival.
Plenty of room for ideas
The Gasometer in Oberhausen offers visitors and guests gigantic dimensions and unique room impressions. A highlight of any visit is a trip inside the interior of the 117 metre high Gasometer with a glass Panorama Lift – the highest exhibition hall in Europe. Visitors who may feel a little queasy at the thoughts of ascending these dizzying heights are thoroughly compensated with fabulous panoramic views of the Ruhr Metropolis area from the Gasometer’s rooftop. An additional highlight at the Gasometer may be marvelled at until the end of 2010: the largest moon on earth – a model moon with a diameter of 25 metres and one of the key attractions of an exhibition entitled ‘Great Moments – Wonders of the Solar System’.
Internet:
www.ruhr2010.de
www.ruhrkunstmuseen.de
www.zollverein.de
www.zeche-zollern.de
www.landschaftspark.de
www.jahrhunderthalle-bochum.de
www.gasometer.de
Further Information on Cultural Capital Ruhr 2010
The programme book, a CD-ROM and a poster with an overview of regional showplaces as well as a complete calendar of events may be ordered from an Online Shop under www.ruhr2010.de/shop as well as from Ruhr Tourismus GmbH via their Order Hotline: 01805/181610. (www.ruhr2010.de)
Tickets for European Cultural Capital Programme events and other events in the Ruhr metropolis area may be booked online under www.ruhr2010.de/tickets or by telephone via the RUHR 2010 Ticket Hotline: 0180 515 2010.
