I love long
breaks from school and work that allow my family and me to pack our bags and
head out on a new adventure. We’re able
to pick a spot on the map, find a place to stay, and spend our free time exploring
a country, city, or region. Sometimes,
though, there isn’t enough time for a long trip. Sometimes, what we need is a place to visit
that’s easy to get to from our home in the Kaiserslautern area and that can be appreciated
in a single day. Well, I was able to
find just a place to fill up some time on a day off from work and school. Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte, or the World
Cultural Heritage Site Völklingen Ironworks, is located in Saarland within an
hour drive from the Kaiserslautern area.
Völklinger
Hütte was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994, making it the first
industrial complex to get that distinction and marking the moment when industry
became a recognized “outstanding achievement of humanity.” Displays along the way explain how areas such
as the ore shed, the blast furnaces, and the coking plant contributed to the
production of iron. The route through
the ironworks includes some stops at larger exhibits. Most of the exhibits are temporary and change
once or twice a year. In one, the
history of the Röchlings, the family that owned and operated the Völklingen
Ironworks from 1881 until the late twentieth century, is explored. The exhibit explains the complicated
relationship between the family and the company that included a period of
forced labor at the ironworks during World War II and the consequences that
followed. Another exhibit features the
work of Cologne UrbanArt photographer Nils Müller. Huge prints of Müller’s photographs line
several walls within the ironworks.
The
displays we spent the most time enjoying, besides simply touring the complex
and admiring its huge machines, were The Skull: Icon, Myth, Cult and the ScienceCenter
Ferrodrom. The Skull is a fascinating
exhibition about the human skull and its cultural significance. About 250 human skulls are on display showing
how the skull develops from conception to adulthood and how different cultures
treated skulls and heads. Examples from
across the world are used to help visitors understand how some cultures used
skulls in ancestor worship and other belief systems. I was a bit worried that the exhibit may be
too graphic for the kids, but none of them were disturbed by the examples of
shrunken heads or carved skulls.
Instead, they were truly fascinated and wanted to know what the
decorations added to the bones meant.
The kids
also really enjoyed the ScienceCenter Ferrodrom. The Ferrodrom is an ongoing exhibit that offers
children, and other visitors, the chance to experiment with hands-on displays
that help them understand how fire, water, earth, and air were all used in the
ironworks. Strong magnets could be used
to move metals, and an elaborate system of wind tunnels, levers, belts, balls,
and more allowed visitors to understand the complex system used to move materials
within the ironworks.
We ended
up spending an entire day exploring Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte, and I’m
sure there were parts of it that we didn’t even realize that we missed. Luckily, there will be more days free from
work and school that will give us a chance to pop over to Völklingen to discover more treasures within the
ironworks and appreciate the next round of exhibitions.
