Völklinger Hütte

World Heritage Site

If you get to travel through Saarland, a beautiful and small German federal state, you shouldn't miss visiting a particular sight: Völklinger Hütte. It is listed as UNESCO World Heritage. The ironworks are a relict from the iron industry and a beacon for steel constructions originating in the period of high industrialisation (1870-1914). The Völklinger Hütte is a fantastic prove that steel constructions certainly contain beauty and charm.

Visit

There's plenty to explore on the 6000m (6560yd) long path circling the Völklinger Hütte. Before starting the tour, you can first receive basic information via a multimedia presentation about the entire history of the place in the so-called sinter plant. Afterwards, you can take a glance at the sprawling ore hall and then get lifted up on top of the building, where you enjoys a spectacular view of the surroundings. The tour continues downwards to the charge hall, which used to be the storage for resources. Once you're down here, it is also worth visiting the impressive furnaces on the way to the coking plant.

Gardens

At the coking plant, you can discover a special highlight of the entire plant: “the paradise”, a large garden landscape. It is here that nature meets technology in a very special way, portraying an unusual and aesthetic image at the same time. The garden area is about 33,000m² (8 acres) large, consisting of 12 gardens in total and also rich in artworks by Eva & Adele.

Science Center

The Science Center is quite an experimental adventure for the whole family. Children will love the interactive experiment stations, where they learn everything about the production of iron and steel in various stages. They will also playfully enhance their knowledge about the elements, which clearly play a large role in the context of industrialisation.

Apart from this unique and varied circular path, Völklinger Hütte is often also used as a venue for extraordinary events. 

By car

• Coming from Mannheim/ Saarbrücken, take motorway A620 and exit at Völklingen/ Geislautern.
• Coming from Luxembourg, take motorway A8, which later turns into A620. Exit at Völklingen/ Wehrden.
• On-site and free of charge, there are 2,500 car parks provided.

By train

Arriving at the train station of Völklingen, you will only need to walk 3 minutes to get to Völklinger Hütte.