Essen Exchanges Industry for Culture
Former Industrial City of Essen Has Become a City of the Arts
Oct 15, 2009
The Goldene Madonna in the cathedral, world-renowned art in the Volkwang Gallery and year-round programmes of music and exhibitions are all combining to help transform Essen’s image.
European Capital of Culture - Ruhr 2010
Indeed the changes in Essen certainly played a major part in the selection of the Ruhr as European Capital of Culture 2010. As new technologies begin to replace coal mining and the production of iron and steel, so redundant collieries and foundries throughout the Ruhr are donning new roles as arts centres and concert venues.
The Krupp Family and the Villa Hugel
Essen's reputation undoubtedly suffers from its connections with the rich and powerful Krupp family whose factories manufactured iron, steel and especially armaments for the Second World War.
However a positive legacy from the Krupp family’s company, founded in 1811, is the family home, Villa Hugel, which Alfred Krupp built in 1868 near Lake Baldeney on the southern edge of Essen.
Villa Hugel Treasures
Surrounded by 75 hectares of gardens and woodland, the Krupp family’s home, Villa Hugel, is more like a palace than a house, having no less than 220 rooms including an impressive library. Many are hung with priceless Gobelin tapestries and have elaborate Italian ceilings.
The gardens and parts of the Villa Hugel are open to the public and special exhibitions and concerts are held there.
Margarethenhohe Estate in Essen Designed by George Metzendorf
Margarethe Krupp, wife of Albert, was the inspiration behind the creation in 1906 of Essen’s Margarethenhohe district, a ‘garden estate’ of houses and apartments which she paid for.
Initially built for Krupp employees, it was designed by George Metzendorf, a leading architect of the day, and is now officially designated as a historical conservation area.
By contrast Essen’s city centre has little architectural merit, having been extensively rebuilt following heavy bombing during the Second World War.
Essen’s Goldene Madonna, Aalto-Theater Opera House and Philharmonie Concert Hall
In Essen cathedral, originally part of a medieval convent, pride of place is taken by the city’s most treasured possession, the Goldene Madonna: a glittering Romanesque Virgin Mary figure. Sculpted over 1000 years ago, it is the oldest in existence. More treasures including four medieval crosses studded with jewels are on show in the crypt.
Designed by the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto and opened in 1988, Essen’s 1125-seat Aalto-Musiktheater is acclaimed as one of the most striking opera houses in the world
Across the leafy City Park from it is the Saalbau arts centre where Essen’s Philharmonie Orchestra and artists from around the world perform in the smart Philharmonie concert hall there.
French Impressionists at the Museum Folkwang, Zollverein Shaft XII, UNESCO World Heritage Site
Among Essen’s galleries and museums, the recently-extended Museum Folkwang houses one of the most prestigious art collections in Germany. It includes works by leading 19th-centuryy painters and sculptors, including French Impressionists like Pissarro, Monet and Degas, as well as post-1945 art.
On the north side of Essen, the massive machinery and winding gear, now still and silent, of the former Zollverein Shaft XII coal mine rise up above the rows of office buildings. Operating from 1932 to 1986, it was the largest coal mine in Europe and is now designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Tours of Zollverein Shaft XII
On a guided tour, visitors see the huge grimy interior of its complicated coal-washing plant.
Other colliery buildings now house the Red Dot design museum and the Ruhr Museum which traces the area’s industrial history.
The Zollverein Shaft XII certainly shows how Essen was at the heart of the Ruhr’s industrial past and also how the city is now playing a central role in the area’s transformation into a cultural metropolis. This was underlined by the choice of the Ruhr as European Capital of Culture 2010.
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