Creative transformations in Germany’s former industrial engine turn region into a destination of unusual locations for the arts and public events Since the 1970s Germany’s industrial heartland, the Ruhr River valley area, has undergone a remarkable transformation-so remarkable that it’s been declared Europe’s Capital of Culture for the coming year. Represented by the city of Essen, this greater urban area in north western Germany, where 53 towns and cities have all but amalgamated, is home to five million citizens who no longer have heavy industry as their major employer.

They might still commute to the same places, but where coalmines, coking plants and smokestacks once spoke of hard physical labour, today people visit gigantic gas storage silos and collieries to see art exhibits and enjoy live music, theatre and movies.

In the Essen/Ruhr Valley region, “romantic Germany” has gained an innovative, young, sometimes provocative sibling, but one thoughtful enough to not simply dismiss-or dismantle-what once was its source of income and pride. The 400- kilometre-long Route of Industrial Heritage takes visitors past many converted former industrial complexes, including the first UNESCO Industrial World Heritage Site, the Zollverein coal mine in Essen. More than 20 such self-guided routes address specific themes of interest and are signposted throughout the area, ranging from Krupp and the City of Essen to Bread, Grain and Beer.

The city of Duisburg, at the area’s western edge, has transformed a steelworks site into its Duisburg-Nord Industrial Landscape Park that includes, predictably, an exhibition about the history of the steelworks, but also Europe’s largest indoor diving centre-in a former gas storage silo. Visitors can clamber through old ore storage bunkers and then climb to the top of the blast-furnace-turned observation tower for spectacular views. From these lofty heights, boaters might spot Europe’s largest river docks below, on the river Rhine. That’s where they would find the Museum of German Inland Navigation, a rare find for any serious sailor. Not far away, the Railway Museum, in Bochum, delights young and old amateurs of trains with its extensive collection of rolling stock.