World Heritage Zollverein
After being in the Rheinpark in Duisburg, we went to the Zeche Zollverein [↗]. In the Ruhr area, everything is close together, but still, it can take some time to reach your destination due to traffic. This morning we were lucky and even we had to take a detour because of construction work we arrived shortly after the museum opened.
I've been here a couple of years ago, but as it was during a business trip, I arrived after the museum was already closed. The grounds themselves are opened 24/7, you just have to make sure that the same is true for your parking lot (I remember that at least some of them being closed at night). Speaking of parking: There are several large parking lots; most of them are free of charge, so that shouldn't be an issue. But there are options with public transportation as well.
Two years ago we've been to Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord and Völklinger Hütte, the latter being a world heritage site as well.
It seems that here in Essen they put much more effort into renovating the outer areas. Quite some buildings are restored and house workshops, offices, or stores selling goods with a connection to the former usage. Yes, there are those large industrial buildings, but you get the same feeling you get when you walk through a beautifully restored medieval city center. In Völklingen and especially in Duisburg, there is much more decay, and you can explore much more and find interesting details.
The situation is a bit different with the museum. Duisburg doesn't have that and the one in Völklingen is quite similar to the one here when it comes to showing industrial history and old machinery, but Essen also has a traditional history museum built into the old building that covers not only the last 20-50 years but also earlier times.
Something special are the escalators leading to the visitor center. At 58 meters they are the longest free-standing escalators in Germany. In the dark, they are illuminated and glow in a dark red. Even more interesting, however, are some staircases that are illuminated as well and seem to glow in the dark if exposed accordingly.
