Völklingen Ironworks

Völklingen Ironworks is a UNESCO world Cultural Heritage site. Started in 1873, it is a symbol of the Industrial Revolution and full of history. It was the last remaining old style iron works facility in Germany, operating until 1986.

This is a large site. On the site are bunkers, blast furnaces, decaying metal, coal towers, coking plant, track ways, artifacts, and museums. It a whole day of interesting things to see and learn. If you love decaying industrial locations, then this is the place for you. As I walked through the decaying buildings I thought this is nature taking back what is rightfully hers. To me this site is representative of what will happen if we destroy ourselves through industrialization. Places like this may be all that is left to learn some good lessons about how the earth can easily re-claim it’s land.

Even though there are a lot of visitors, they do a good job of preserving the decay and balancing it with providing paths to walk around on. It is very unique in that they celebrate the art of decay here, not re-vamping anything. But instead making pathways so you can walk around and see the history. They have guided tours with lots of information, and you can walk everywhere.