Europe's industrial past on show in Oberhausen

Mar 9, 2010, 8:25 GMT

Oberhausen, Germany - The city of Oberhausen, situated in the heart of Germany's industrial Ruhr Valley region, hardly has a reputation as a popular tourist destination.

Blue skies are the exception rather than the rule this far north and, ten years into the 21st century, most of the city's smokestacks, factories and furnaces have long since been pulled down.

But why then are posters going up in neighbouring Holland offering trips to London, Paris and, of all places, Oberhausen?

Normally, outsiders only visit the city to shop at CentrO, which is marketed as Europe's largest shopping centre. However, with the Ruhr region named as European Capital of Culture in 2010, Oberhausen is attempting to pitch itself to tourists in a way previously thought not possible.

Hotels have opened, a leisure park has been constructed, as well as a huge venue for events, a music theatre, an aquarium and, of course, the CentrO, which draws 23 million visitors a year.

Most tourists limit themselves to these leisure attractions, but there is a lot more to see in Oberhausen, as long as you are prepared to go on a voyage of discovery.

In scenes similar to a gold rush, what is known as 'the cradle' of the Ruhr industrial region was created from nothing in the second half of the 19th century. Except, of course, in Oberhausen the precious material was coal, not gold.

The etchings and photos in the city's LVR Museum, which is housed in a former factory behind the main train station, show the powerful industrial vista that existed for over a century until the final demise of the coal mining and other heavy industry in the 1980s.

Previously, Oberhausen was a spectacular sight, not least at dusk when the sun set behind the countless smokestacks as they spewed out thick soot-laden black smoke while the furnaces flashed and goods trains rattled incessantly down crowded tracks.

Today, one of Europe's most unusual exhibition hall can be visited at the Oberhausen Gasometer, former industrial site of the Gutehoffnungshuette, which morphed from a coal-mining firm to the largest mechanical engineering company in 20th century Europe.

The complex's former main warehouse and gasometer now offer the ultimate Oberhausen experience. Several accessible exhibition levels have been created inside the gasometer while an interior, glass elevator conveys its passengers to viewing platforms located under and on the roof, at a height of 110 metres.

'When the sun sets behind the A3 motorway, the rest of the world doesn't matter. And when you stand on the gasometer in stormy times, all you need is Oberhausen,' sang local band the Misfits.

In 1844, Gutehoffnungshuette built Eisenheim, the Ruhr Valley's first workers' settlement. Today, the complex is stained pitch-black from over a century of furnace activity. With a bench in front of the building, a garden out back and a pigeon loft on the roof, it's a veritable Ruhr paradise, while in Grafenbusch visitors can see how the factory bosses lived.

In recent years, much of the parkland in the area has been restored to its former glory, with the city-centre Grillopark, which is situated behind the town hall, perhaps the finest example with its ocean of trees.

The old city centre of Oberhausen suffered greatly with the arrival of CentrO as it drew shoppers away, leaving the main Markstrasse populated with discount stores.

Mired in debt, Oberhausen also found it tough to reinvent itself after the almost total collapse of its traditional industries in the 1970s and 1980s. The focus on leisure experience in the new centre is certainly not the worst rescue effort that could be imagined.