Photos

Picture showing a locomotive in the old ironworks plant of Voelklingen which today is part of the The World Cultural Heritage Site.

Info www.voelklinger-huette.org/en

A visit to the World Cultural Heritage Site at the Völklingen Ironworks is an adventure: the visitor can go down deep into the dark corridors of the burden shed and climb up to the lofty heights of the blast furnace viewing-platform.

The multi-media introduction to the sintering-plant takes the visitor on a journey through time, from the beginnings of the Völklingen Ironworks right up to the present day. From the roof of the ore shed, a view opens up over the town of Völklingen and the active works of Saarstahl AG. An impressive panorama at any time of the year, both by night and by day!

At the granulating-plant, the laid out picnic area invites the visitor to sit down and have a rest: relaxing between colourful aquatic plants and defiant steel. Then there is the ascent to the top platform 27 metres above ground: that is where the raw materials were tipped into the blast furnaces. And if anyone feels like going up a little further, he or she can climb up to the viewing-platform of the blast furnace group. From there, there is an incomparable panorama.

Since 2007, for the first time, the top platform is open to visitors over the whole of its length, 200 metres. An impressive experience. Via the coal track, with the new 20-metre-long spiral chute, and the blower shed footbridge, the visitor reaches the blower shed. The blowers, giants of iron and steel, generated the blast which was channelled into the blast furnaces.

A tour of the World Cultural Heritage Site, with more than 5000 metres of exciting and well signposted walkways will generally take between two and three hours.

The World Cultural Heritage Site at the Völklingen Ironworks: one of the most exciting places in the world