Ruhr III - Duisburg Nord
My favorite part of this trip to the Ruhr area easily was the visit to the Landschaftspark Duisburg Nord. I had brought my bike and from Essen I took a ride on a bike highway, partially along the river Ruhr, to my destination to the north of Duisburg.
The Landschaftspark is a former iron works plant that was converted to a recreational park while leaving most of the former industrial buildings intact.
The former main building can be used as an even venue and hosts a small youth hostel. You can also rent bicycles there because the area is huge and almost completely accessible.
The main highlight (for me at least) is the former blast furnace 5 that I walked into first. I started at the bottom of the furnace where the molten iron would come out and be craned around by this crane:
From there, you can take stairs up and start looking down on nature slowly taking back the old buildings.
Then, I climbed up the furnace on the outside, using externally mounted stairs and walkways past the rusty metal…
… of giant pipes…
…and eventually was able to step inside again and get close to the main furnace.
It was at this point when I realized that I couldn’t climb any higher because it felt like I was about to pass out from my fear of heights. I must’ve been standing maybe 50m above ground with the top being at 70m with the wind blowing through the structure and walking on see-through walkways.
Therefore, after having seen these inlets which I believe were for cooling of the furnace casing, I went down again and admired more of the old metal.
After a currywurst at a food cart, I continued and walked below, above, and across the old storage bunkers for coal and iron. Some of these have now been converted into gardens, playgrounds, or are even used by the local alpine climbing club for practice.
The back part of area looks more like a regular park with trees, flowers, and a small river. The following picture was taken on Monte Schlacko for an overview of the whole area.
This slowly deteriorating plant gives a feeling of the dirt and pollution it once generated and feels completely ancient. To my surprise, the furnace 5 that I climbed up was only built in 1973 and shut down in 1985.
Another surprising repurposing is the use of the former gasometer by the local diving club. They’ve just filled it with water and are using it for diving training.
Overall, I highly recommend a trip to this industrial monument that’s certainly one of a kind. Especially families will easily be able to spend a whole day here, learning about history, being active outdoors, or even watching a concert.
