Our permanent exhibitions
There are various ways to explore our museum. At each station, you will discover fascinating facts about iron production as well as the natural world, which has gradually reclaimed the industrial fallow land over time.
Our video tours on YouTube also offer a 16-stage journey through the factory grounds.
Permanent exhibitions
100 lives at the plant
On April 23, 1987, the people of Hattingen formed a human chain to protest the closure of the Henrichshütte steelworks. Exactly 30 years later, the text and image collage ‘100 Hüttenleben’ (100 Lives at the Plant) was unveiled. Solingen-based photographer Astrid Kirschey and members of the LWL Industrial Museum Henrichshütte support association photographed and interviewed former employees of Henrichshütte. These life-size portraits and quotes, installed along the site’s outer fence, form once again a ‘human chain’ around Henrichshütte. The accompanying book includes a DVD featuring the video interviews.
Iron and steel
The Iron Trail allows you to follow the flow of materials from ore, coke and lime to molten pig iron. The tour leads you through ore pockets and up to the blast furnace via a lift. From there, you descend staircase by staircase into the casting hall, the heart of the plant, where the 1,400-degree hot iron was once tapped. What makes this tour special is that in many places you will encounter photos, films and interviews with the people who worked here.
The green path
After the plant’s closure, nature reclaimed the industrial fallow land on its own terms. The green path shows you where wild marjoram, herb robert and tree of heaven now thrive alongside kestrels and butterflies. You will learn about the exotic species that arrived in Hattingen as stowaways within raw materials from across the globe and discover the unique conditions they find on the Henrichshütte grounds.
The Way of the Rat
No one knows the ironworks as well as the blue rat. Our museum mascot leads young explorers along the Rat Trail to uncover the secrets of steel and iron. What goes into the blast furnace, and what comes out? Wherever you spot a sign with the blue rat, there is something new for children and young people to discover.
