UNESCO World Heritage Site Völklinger Hütte

The UNESCO World Heritage Site Völklinger Hütte

The World Heritage Site Völklinger Hütte is the only fully preserved ironworks from the heyday of industrialisation and the first industrial monument from this era to be added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The sustainable development of a World Heritage Site and the various activities presented in this auratic space rest upon five thematic pillars: industry, culture, history, art and nature.

The Völklingen Ironworks provides a prime example of the era of peak industrialisation and the Anthropocene, the age dominated by human activity. The former production facilities for pig iron are preserved in their entirety. Several kilometres of pathways lead visitors to assorted milestones in the history of technology, such as the inclined ore elevator, unique to Völklingen, the huge gas blowers and the sintering plant – as well as numerous artistic interventions and works of urban art along the way.

With its huge industrial buildings, open spaces and maze of pipework, the Völklingen Ironworks also provides a unique venue for international exhibitions, festivals and concerts. Added to this wealth of culture, there is also an abundance of nature: in the area known as Paradise, various flora and fauna are now progressively reclaiming the “inferno” of the former coking plant.

The Völklingen Ironworks offers a showcase of the history of industrialization – with its achievements and its downsides – alongside technology, art, culture and nature, thereby creating a unique experience that firmly establishes it as a place not only of the past, but also of the present and future, in a constant process of reinvention.