Duisburg
Dortmund, Essen, Bochum, Oberhausen and Duisburg are the main cities in the German Ruhr Area. The cities are close, in fact it is a big conurbation. During WWII the cities were heavily bombed by the allied forces and lost their old city centres. About 80% of Duisburg was completely or partly destroyed. In the 1970s-1980s, the traditional coal and steel industry collapsed like elsewhere in Western Europe. The current chief attraction of Ruhrgebiet destination is industrial heritage and culture. Old steel and coal plants have been used for cultural purposes.
But there is also new architecture. Dusseldorf is the place most visitors go to, especially photographer want to make shots of Dusseldorf’s inner harbour area with Frank Gehry’s housing projects. But we go to Duisburg. Duisburg is not a city with much old-world charm. Its main visitor attraction is Landschaftpark Nord, a former steel plant which has been preserved, and turned into cultural landscape. It is definitely worth a visit (https://www.landschaftspark.de/ shows great scenes and scapes).
We selected three places of modern architecture in Duisburg. The first is the Lehmbruck Museum. The second is the Tiger & Turtle – Magic Mountain, a special art installation in the Southern part of Duisburg. The third is the area of Innenhafen, the inner harbour with new architecture. Ideal to move around in Duisburg is by bike. From Duisburg Centre (Innenhafen) to the Magic Mountain is 8 km.
Lehmbruck Museum
Lehmbruck museum is located in the Immanuel Kant park, a not so big park with sculptures, a children’s playground, a good coffee house / restaurant, and Cubus Kunsthalle, with small exhibitions and art activities (http://www.cubus-kunsthalle.de/). Wilhelm Lehmbruck was sculptor and lived from 1881-1919. His son became architect of the museum, that has two parts. The oldest part was opened in 1964 and contains the Lehmbruck wing with work from Lehmbruck, and a second hall shows the remainder of the permanent collection. In 1987 the extension was opened that hosts temporary exhibitions.
From the outside the museum is far from spectacular but it fits well in the environment. The architecture experience inside the museum is very nice. The Lehmbruck wing is extraordinary. The architecture blends exterior and interior, by creating a small courtyard in the building, separated by a glass wall. This wing gives a special sensation of light and space, the art is like decoration. The building materials match the architecture design very well.
In the exhibition hall this experience is less profound than in the Lehmbruck wing. It is a very nice place, but more conventional, and attention goes quicker to the sculptures exhibited. The extension building of the museum is a multilevel structure. It gives a spacious feeing too, but is already getting close to other museum experiences where art – and not architecture – is prominent.
Link: lehmbruckmuseum.de/museum/
Click to enlarge
Tiger & Turtle Magic Mountain
This installation, a walkable sculpture it is called, was opened in 2011, when Duisburg Since opening in November 2011. The landmark is on top of a hill, the site of a former slag heap, and can be seen from a distance. That gives good views of the environment when you walk the Magic Mountain installation.
Our visit happened to be on May 1st, and we did not realise beforehand that May 1st is Labour day, a public holiday in Germany. The weather was nice, and quite a number of people walked the installation, had a coffee on the grass, children played on the slopes of the hill, people were taking pictures. Everybody happy with this installation on this beautiful day. The installation feels like a wobbly bridge (it moves a bit, think of a small pedestrian bridge) and that makes some children a bit scared, while other love it.
Link: www.duisburg.de/microsites/visit_duisburg/discover_the_city/industrial_heritage/tiger-turtle.php
Innenhafen
In Duisburg, like in other cities such as Bremen, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, waterfront development was initiated in harbour districts that fell out of use, through long term regeneration policies. From 1994 onwards, first public investments and culture, then offers to businesses and nowadays more housing. All construction projects were somehow linked to ‘inner harbour’, and that brings the port into town and the town to the port (in Rotterdam this was called – linking wet and dry). Mills and warehouses have been converted (see pictures of Küppersmühle and Faktorei 21) and new buildings have been created (see pictures of Five Boats and Landesarchiv). Within the framework of the mixed use of the area, that is, working, living, leisure and culture,
Some beautiful architecture, like the Jewish Centre, the Landesarchiv and the business centres, is not fully accessible. Landesarchiv can be visited through guided tours only. But two museums, the art and the gardens can be enjoyed.
Link: //www.innenhafen-portal.de/
Innenhafen - Küppersmühle
Küppersmühle Museum (MKM - Museum Küppersmühle for Modern Art.) deserves special attention. It is a private museum, located at the end of the inner harbour. In 1999 he architects (Herzog & de Meuron) have transformed the former warehouse building (a mill that was closed in 1972) with its listed brick façade into a modern cultural building. In 2021 a newly built annex was opened. New and old, divided by the grey mill silos (they are kept als industrial monument) merge beautifully. The extension is linked to the old building by bridges through the silos. A platform on top of the silos is to be opened soon.
The two staircases are eye-catching, they have been beautifully designed, and the colour makes the difference. But the best of the architecture experience is the ensemble of old and new, the incorporation of the industrial heritage in a modern interior and the spacious rooms (6 m. high) that facilitate the exposition of big pieces of art.
