The “Voelklingen Ironworks” is a stunning document of industrialization, of gone industrial times. Nowadays, the remains of the Voelklingen Ironworks are displayed together with changing, but always very interesting art exhibitions. With good reason, the Voelklingen Ironworks was selected as World Cultural Heritage Center by the UNESCO in 1994, and is an anchor point of the European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH).
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| Travel Destination | Voelklingen Ironworks ( Völklinger Hütte), Voelklingen, Germany |
| How and when I got there | by car; June 2015 |
| Where I stayed | Parkhotel Voelklingen (https://parkhotel-voelklingen.de/) |
| Restaurants | Restaurant Parkhotel Voelklingen |
| Things to do | visit the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Center “Voelklingen Ironworks” |
| Recommendations in a nutshell | the”Voelklingen Ironworks” requires a day – stay overnight and enjoy the great local meals |
| Recipe | Pumpkin Soup (recipe at the bottom of this post) |
The History
The website https://www.voelklinger-huette.org/en/welcome/ will give you information about ongoing and upcoming events and exhibitions. Also the UNESCO Website provides Information: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/687. The today’s industrial complex has been turned into a museum and has been out of industrial use since 1986, when the last part of the plant was closed. Most parts of the plant have been built in the 1880ies; the first smelter began operation in 1883. During the tour of the museum, films from the early days are shown, and they give a feeling of how it must have been like during the operational times. It’s a bit creepy – with all the heat, dust, probably smells and hard work, inlcuding (probably) many fatal accidents due to less strict safety measures at that time.
The Museum
Nowadays, the walk through the halls is amazing. There are still monstrous remains, but in between lots of plants – nature reconquers the place:
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And the contrast between the rusty and decaying, yet strong and formal structure and the modern art display is stunning as well.
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Unfortunately, due to copyright reasons, I cannot show much of the great art works that have been on display during our visit in 2015.
But still you may get an impression about how it looks like.
We stayed overnight at Voelklingen and enjoyed a very nice open air dinner at the Restaurant of our hotel, the “Parkhotel Voelklingen”. The next day we decided to go for a short walk on the hill next to the hotel and were rewarded with a beautiful view of the city of Voelklingen, including the “Voelklingen Ironworks” in the middle:
Overall, the “Voelklingen Ironworks” is definitely worth a visit.
And here is my favorite recipe from Voelklingen: Pumpkin Soup1 medium sized pumpkin (preferably Hokkaido), cut into small cubes Cut the pumpkin (no need to remove the edible Skin, but remove the seeds and fibers) into small pieces and stir-fry together with the chopped shallots a few minutes. Add chicken or vegetable broth and the white wine. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, until the pumpkin is melting. Blend everything, add whipping cream, salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a few drops of Pumpkin seed oil, a bit of fresh parsley and roasted pumpkin seeds. |
Greetings from Voelklingen
*According to a German Court decision, all texts containing links to commercial pages (e.g. links to Tripadvisor, Airline, hotel or restaurant websites) have to be identified as “commercial” (in German “Anzeige”). As my texts do contain links like that, I therefore identify each post and page containing a link as “Anzeige”. However (and referring to the “About Me” page) I would like to point out that I do NOT post any sponsored content in my texts; I pay for all my trips myself.
