SOLOMANGO FEATURE STORY by Aldo Pavan Industrial Revolution: The Ruhr named Capital of Culture for 2010 |
The once polluted Ruhr region has been transformed into an extraordinary centre of culture and recreation, and in 2010 the whole area, along with Essen, has been named European Capital of Culture . . . 
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The Ruhr region in the north of Germany, once synonymous with heavy industry and heavier pollution, has been miraculously transformed into an area of culture and recreation. In 2010 the whole area, along with Essen, is marked as European City of Culture. The old industries covered an area 65km long and 35km wide. A huge metropolis without an urban centre, rather like a series of inter-connected cities. In the past decade the area has seen hundreds of factories close down with the loss of thousands of jobs. Now the industrial units are being utilised for recreation - art galleries, restaurants, museums, sports centres. You can take a gentle boat trip along once polluted canals, or a bicycle ride through woods and green fields where once was only smog and waste. A slag heap has become a year-round indoor ski slope. The transformation is extraordinary, even revealing beauty in the old industrial forms - especially visible at night when some of the structures are illuminated. Apart from new recreation centres, other factories have simply been restored to their original glory in recognition of their value as examples of industrial architecture to be kept for posterity.
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