69 Sights in Essen, Germany (with Map and Images)
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Tickets and guided tours on GetYourGuide*Explore interesting sights in Essen, Germany. Click on a marker on the map to view details about it. Underneath is an overview of the sights with images. A total of 69 sights are available in Essen, Germany.
List of cities in Germany Sightseeing Tours in Essen1. Geusenengel
Geusenengel or Geusen-Daniel are the trumpet angels in the diaspora of the former Duchy of Jülich on the Lower Rhine. Trumpet angels on the ridge turrets and towers of Protestant churches in this area serve as weather vanes. The often hidden small churches also served as places of worship for the Geuzen who had fled from the Netherlands and joined the Protestants who worked in secret. Their name then passed to the Jülich Protestants. The Geusendaniel was probably a fad at the time when these churches were allowed to install a bell turret or church tower on or at their churches and prayer houses for the first time. Especially after the Second World War, the Geusenengel became the symbol of Protestant Christians on the Lower Rhine. Examples can be found in Goch, in Geldern (Holy Spirit Church) or in the Marktkirche Kettwig.
2. Eisenbahnmuseum Bochum-Dahlhausen
The Eisenbahnmuseum Bochum-Dahlhausen is a railway museum situated south of the city of Bochum in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded by DGEG, the German Railway History Company in 1977 and is based in a locomotive depot that was built between 1916 and 1918 and ceased operation in 1969. Then DGEG took over the whole area of 46,000 square metres and built up the biggest railway museum in Germany. In the middle of the museum, there is an engine shed with fourteen tracks. A preserved turntable, coaling, watering, and sanding facilities are still in operation. This museum is integrated into The Industrial Heritage Trail a route of monuments from the history of the industry.
3. Denkmal F.A. Krupp
Friedrich Alfred Krupp was a German steel manufacturer and head of the company Krupp. He was the son of Alfred Krupp and inherited the family business when his father died in 1887. Whereas his father had largely supplied iron and steel, Friedrich shifted his company's production back to arms manufacturing. Friedrich greatly expanded Krupp and acquired the Germaniawerft in 1896 which gave him control of warship manufacturing in Germany. He oversaw the development of nickel steel, U-boats, the diesel engine, and much more. He died, possibly by suicide, in 1902 after being accused of homosexuality. His daughter Bertha inherited the company.
4. Altenhof II
The settlement Altenhof consists of the two construction phases of the settlement Altenhof I, which was built between 1893 and 1907, and the settlement Altenhof II from the years 1907 to 1914. Altenhof I is located in the Essen district Rüttenscheid, Altenhof II in Stadtwald. Both were built by Friedrich Krupp AG for its former employees. At that time, it was a revolutionary social commitment that the elderly, invalids and single people were allowed to live rent-free here. Today, the still existing parts of the Altenhof settlement are a testimony to historical settlement development and thus belong to the Route of Industrial Heritage.
5. Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex
The Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex is a large former industrial site in the city of Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The first coal mine on the premises was founded in 1847, and mining activities took place from 1851 until December 23, 1986. For decades, starting in the late 1950s, the two parts of the site, Zollverein Coal Mine and Zollverein Coking Plant, ranked among the largest of their kinds in Europe. Shaft 12, built in the New Objectivity style, was opened in 1932 and is considered an architectural and technical masterpiece, earning it a reputation as the "most beautiful coal mine in the world".
Wikipedia: Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex (EN), Website, Heritage Website
6. Philharmonie/ Saalbau
Saalbau Essen is a concert venue in Essen, Germany, the home of the Essen Philharmonic. The original building was completed in 1902, and destroyed during World War II on 26 July 1943. It was rebuilt between 1949 and 1954 and completely renovated in 2003 and 2004. The Saalbau Essen is located a little bit south of the city center close to the Aalto Theatre. Since the 2013/2014 season Tomáš Netopil has been the music director of Essener Philharmonic. Also since 2013/2014 Hein Mulders has been the intendant of the Saalbau Essen.
7. St. Ludgerus
The St. Ludgerus Church in Essen-Werden is considered one of the most important late Romanesque church buildings in the Rhineland. It was built at the beginning of the 9th century as the abbey church of the Benedictine monastery of Werden and was redesigned in the 13th century in the Rhenish transitional style. Outside the actual church building is the crypt with the shrine of St. Ludgerus. Since the abolition of the abbey, St. Ludgerus has been a Catholic parish church. Since 1993 it has borne the title of a basilica minor.
8. Saalbau/Philharmonie
The hall building is a concert hall in the Südviertel in Essen and today the seat of the Philharmonie Essen with affiliated catering and event areas. The building is located in a central downtown location on the edge of the city garden and near the Aalto Theater. Tomáš Netopil has been general music director of the Essen Philharmonic and thus successor to Stefan Soltesz since the 2013/2014 season. In the successor of Johannes Bultmann, Hein Mulders started the directorate at the beginning of the 2013/14 season.
Wikipedia: Philharmonie Essen (DE), Website, Hearing_impaired Website
9. Insel Werden 1984 - Heute
Maria Nordman is a German-American sculptor and conceptual artist. She is known for creating the contexts of FILM ROOMS starting in 1967: FILM ROOM EAT 1967-PRESENT and FILM ROOM EXHALE 1967- PRESENT. These two works are the fulcrum of other works that follow, of other works that follow, enabling new considerations of rooms as sculpture. Her works in film, still photography, and sculpture variously connect to writing, musical projects, architecture, public space, and performance.
10. Domschatzkammer
The Essen Cathedral Treasury is one of the most significant collections of religious artworks in Germany. A great number of items of treasure are accessible to the public in the treasury chamber of Essen Minster. The cathedral chapter manages the treasury chamber, not as a museum as in some places, but as the place in which liturgical implements and objects are kept, which continued to be used to this day in the service of God, so far as their conservation requirements allow.
11. Friedenskirche Steele
The Evangelical Church of Peace in the eastern Essen district of Steele is a neo-Gothic, three-nave church building, which has been a listed building since 1989. The church was built in 1872 according to plans by the Essen architect Julius Flügge as a successor building to a predecessor church that had become too small on the same land and is today the parish church of the Evangelical parish of Königssteele, which belongs to the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland.
12. Ehemaliges Verwaltungsgebäude Zeche Graf Beust
The Graf Beust colliery was a coal mine in Essen-Mitte-Ost, Germany. The mine was named after the Rhenish mining captain Ernst August Graf von Beust. The Graf Beust colliery was one of the founding members of the Rhenish-Westphalian Coal Syndicate. In the second half of the 19th century, it was one of the most important collieries in the administrative district of Düsseldorf. The Graf Beust colliery was one of the first marl mines in the Ruhr area.
13. St. Mariä Geburt
The Nativity of Saint Mary is a Roman Catholic church building in the Kupferdreh district of Essen, Germany, which has been listed since 1989. It was built in the neo-Gothic style from 1876 to 1879 from light brown Ruhr sandstone. The reason for the construction of the church was the sharp increase in the number of believers in Dilldorf. The church stands on Dilldorfer Straße and is dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus.
14. Aalto-Theater
The Aalto Theatre (Aalto-Theater) is a performing arts venue in Essen, Germany, and is home to the city's opera company Aalto-Musiktheater and the ballet company Aalto Ballett. The Essener Philharmoniker serve as the venue's orchestra. The theatre opened on 25 September 1988 with Richard Wagner's opera Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and is mainly used for opera and ballet, but also for concerts and galas.
15. Villa Hügel
The Villa Hügel is a 19th-century mansion in Bredeney, now part of Essen, Germany. It was built by the industrialist Alfred Krupp in 1870-1873 as his main residence and was the home of the Krupp family until after World War II. More recently, the Villa Hügel has housed the offices of the Kulturstiftung Ruhr, an art gallery, the historical archive of the Krupp family and company, and a concert venue.
16. Halbachhammer
The Halbachhammer in Essen's Fulerum district is the remnant of the medieval Fickynhütte from Weidenau an der Sieg. Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach had it moved to the Nachtigallental within sight of the Margarethenhöhe and donated it to the city. Today, the Halbachhammer is a technical and economic historical monument, a branch of the Ruhr Museum and part of the Route of Industrial Heritage.
17. Stratmanns Theater
The Amerikahaus Ruhr, called Europahaus since 1994, is a listed building in Essen's city centre since 1991. It was built in the early 1950s by the Americans as America House and the first main base of their information network in selected major cities. After the house later served as the seat of the Lord Mayor for 15 years, the cabaret stage Stratmanns Theater has been located in it since 1994.
18. Salomon Ludwig Steinheim-Institut für deutsch-jüdische Geschichte an der Universität Duisburg-Essen
The Old Synagogue in Essen is one of the largest, best preserved and architecturally most impressive testimonies to Jewish culture in pre-war Germany. Built in the centre of the city, the Byzantine style former Synagogue was originally consecrated as the Neue Synagoge in 1913; it now houses an institution dedicated to documenting and promoting the history of the city's former Jewish community.
19. Grabmal Brünglinghaus
The Old Cemetery Huttrop was laid out in 1878 as a municipal cemetery in today's Essen district of Huttrop. At that time, Huttrop was part of the Landbürgermeisterei of Stoppenberg, whereby Huttrop was incorporated into the city of Essen in 1908. Deconsecrated in 1991, the burial ground has become a park in which several tombs have been preserved, most of which are now protected monuments.
20. Vryburg
The Vryburg is a medieval ring wall, which is important for the early medieval settlement in the Ruhr Valley. Today's deserted complex is located in the eastern Essen district of Horst on a hill north of the Ruhr in the immediate vicinity east of the Haus Horst. It may have been the forerunner of this manor house. However, the assumption has not yet been proven.
21. St. Barbara (Byfang)
The Church of St. Barbara is a predictive townscape, Roman Catholic church building in the Byfang district of Essen. The church named after St. Barbara of Nicomedia, patron saint of the miners, belongs to the parish of St. Josef Essen Ruhr Peninsula in the Essen city dean of Essen. The church is in a somewhat increased location on the Nöckersberger saddle.
22. St. Johann Baptist (Essen)
The Catholic parish church of St. Johann Baptist is a Gothic hall church in Essen, dedicated to John the Baptist, which stands on Kettwiger Straße, the main street of Essen, in front of Essen Minster, to which it is connected. On account of its position and the fact that its spire towers over the Minster, visitors often mistake it for part of the Minster.
23. Villa Vogelsang
Villa Vogelsang is a villa on the Ruhr heights in the Horst district of Essen on Antonienallee. The name goes back to one of the former owners, the entrepreneur Wilhelm Vogelsang. On the park -like property there is also a former coache in the immediate vicinity of the villa. Villa and coache are listed and are part of the route of industrial culture.
24. Marktkirche
The Essen Market Church, until the end of the 19th century Gertrudiskirche, is located in Essen's city center on the market, the original Essen market square, which was once the economic, political and religious center of the city. The originally Romanesque, after partial reconstruction late Gothic hall church was the first Protestant church in Essen.
25. Schurenbachhalde
The Schurenbachhalde is an approximately 50-metre-high tailings pile of coal mining in the Essen district of Altenessen. The slag heap is named after the "Schurenbach" water, which was buried under it since the 1970s, and is located directly on the Rhine-Herne Canal, between Emscherstraße and Nordsternstraße and near the Nordsternpark Gelsenkirchen.
26. Schloss Borbeck
Borbeck Castle (German: Schloss Borbeck) is a Baroque moated castle in the Borbeck district of Essen, Germany. Since the 14th century it was the preferred residence of the Essen princesses abbesses and received its present external appearance in the 18th century. Since the 1980s, it has been used as a venue for further education and cultural events.
27. Tux
Tux is a penguin character and the official brand character of the Linux kernel. Originally created as an entry to a Linux logo competition, Tux is the most commonly used icon for Linux, although different Linux distributions depict Tux in various styles. The character is used in many other Linux programs and as a general symbol of Linux.
28. Burgruine Vittinghoff
Haus Vittinghoff is an abandoned motte on Vittinghoffstraße in Essen's Stadtwald district. It is the ancestral seat of the noble family Vietinghoff, which in its Westphalian line bore the title Freiherr von Vittinghoff called Schell zu Schellenberg, but calls itself Freiherr von Vietinghoff-Scheel in the Baltic line.
29. Krupp-Park
The Krupp-Park is a park under construction in the western quarter of the city of Essen. It was created in the course of the urban development project Krupp-Gürtel and is located here in a north-south extension parallel west of Berthold-Beitz-Boulevard. In the southern part of the park there is a sports complex.
30. Haus Scheppen
Haus Scheppen is a former aristocratic fiefdom of Werden Abbey in the Fischlaken district of Essen, Germany. With up to 23 lower farms, the fortified farm was one of the largest fiefdoms in Werden in the Middle Ages. Its namesakes were the Lords of Scheppen, who were vassals of the house in the 14th century.
31. Anna-Bunker
Altendorf is a northwestern borough of the city of Essen, Germany. It was incorporated into the city on 1 August 1901. Previously, it had been part of the Bürgermeisterei Altendorf, which existed since 1874. Altendorf consisted of two parts, Oberdorf and Unterdorf. Around 23.000 people live here.
32. Museum Folkwang, Altbau
Museum Folkwang is a major collection of 19th- and 20th-century art in Essen, Germany. The museum was established in 1922 by merging the Essener Kunstmuseum, which was founded in 1906, and the private Folkwang Museum of the collector and patron Karl Ernst Osthaus in Hagen, founded in 1902.
33. Domkirche Ss. Cosmas und Damian
Essen Minster, since 1958 also Essen Cathedral is the seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Essen, the "Diocese of the Ruhr", founded in 1958. The church, dedicated to Saints Cosmas and Damian and the Blessed Virgin Mary, stands on the Burgplatz in the centre of the city of Essen, Germany.
34. Marktkirche Kettwig
The Evangelical Market Church is a listed church building in Kettwig, a district of Essen. The name Church on the market has prevailed because it enables precise geographical classification in Kettwig and at the same time excludes confusion with the market church in Essen-Stadtmitte.
Wikipedia: Marktkirche Kettwig (DE), Website, Heritage Website
35. Walter-Hohmann-Sternwarte
The Walter Hohmann Observatory in the Essen district of Schuir is a public observatory operated by a non-profit association, which also participates in planetoid research. It was named in memory of the space pioneer Walter Hohmann. The observatory is located at 120 m above sea level.
36. Reiterdenkmal, Kaiser Wilhelm I.
The Kaiser Wilhelm Monument in the center of Essen is an equestrian statue depicting Kaiser Wilhelm I. As one of numerous Kaiser Wilhelm monuments erected during the German Empire, this one also glorifies Wilhelm I as its founder and as the victor over the Second Empire (France).
37. St. Michael
The subsidiary church of St. Michael am Wasserturm was built in 1954 in Essen's southeast quarter and belongs to the parish of St. Gertrude, founded on 20 April 2008. Its predecessor building from 1904 stood on a different plot of land and was destroyed in the Second World War.
38. Glückaufhaus
The Glückaufhaus is an office building built in 1922/1923 in Essen's Südviertel at Friedrichstraße 1, whose façade has been a listed building since 1988. It was built according to plans by the architect and head of the municipal building authority Ernst Bode (1878–1944).
39. Friedenskirche
The Friedenskirche is located on Bernestraße near the Old Synagogue and the Town Hall in the city centre of Essen. The listed Old Catholic church was built from 1914 to 1916. The origin in the midst of the horrors of the First World War makes the naming easy to understand.
40. Wasserturm am Steeler Berg
The water tower on Steeler Berg is located at Diether-Krebs-Platz in the southeast district of the city of Essen. In 1985 he was accepted into the monument list of the city of Essen. It still has its function as a water tower. He is also the seat of the Essen table today.
41. Dubois-Arena
The Dubois-Arena was a boxing venue in the Borbeck district of Essen in the 1950s. Today it is used for open-air cultural events. The arena bears the name of the founder and first president of the Federation of German Professional Boxers (BDB), Ernst Dubois (1900–1957).
42. Schloß Schellenberg
Schloss Schellenberg is a well-preserved castle on a wooded hill in the Ruhr Heights in the Essen district of Rellinghausen, North Rhine-Westphalia. From 1452 to 1993 it was owned by the Barons of Vittinghoff called Schell zu Schellenberg and until 1909 their residence.
43. Johanneskirche
The Johanneskirche is a Protestant church in the Essen district of Bergerhausen. It was inaugurated in 1985 and replaces the older St. John's Church, which had been built from 1954 to 1955. The free-standing church tower of the first church building is still preserved.
Wikipedia: Johanneskirche (Essen-Bergerhausen) (DE), Website
44. Ruhrkämpfermahnmal
The Ruhrkämpferehrenmal is a monument erected in 1934 during the Nazi era in the Essen district of Horst. It is located in a wooded area directly above the north bank of the Ruhr about 100 meters southeast of Haus Horst. In 1985 it was rededicated to a memorial.
45. Pestalozzidorf Im Grund
The Pestalozzi village “Insurely” is a housing estate for young people who, according to the principles of the educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi - was built in the Essen district of Katernberg. It is located between the Colony III and Dortmannhof.
46. Mar Addai und Mar Mari
The Church of St. Albertus Magnus in Essen's Katernberg district was built from 1983 to 1986 as a Roman Catholic (Latin) church and profaned in 2008. As the church of Mar Addai and Mar Mari, it now serves the Chaldean Catholic parish of the same name.
47. Deutschlandhaus
Today, the Deutschlandhaus is an office and commercial building in Essen's city centre on Lindenallee. It was built in 1928 and 1929 as a technical town hall and is considered the city's first skyscraper. It has been a listed building since 1988.
48. Ruhr Museum
The Ruhr Museum, formerly the Ruhrland Museum, is a diverse natural history and cultural history museum for the Ruhrgebiet in Essen, Germany. The sponsor is the Stiftung Ruhr Museum. Director since 2012 is the historian Heinrich Theodor Grütter.
49. Krupp Stammhaus
The Krupp headquarters was initially a slate half-timbered building built as a supervisor's house in 1818/1819, and later the residence of the Krupp industrialist family from Essen. After war destruction, it was faithfully reconstructed in 1961.
50. Kreuzeskirche
The Kreuzeskirche in Essen's city centre is a Protestant church built between 1894 and 1896 according to plans by the architect August Orth. After severe damage in the Second World War, it was rebuilt until 1953 and is now a listed building.
Wikipedia: Kreuzeskirche (Essen) (DE), Website, Heritage Website
51. Südwestfriedhof
The municipal Essener Südwestfriedhof is located in the west of the city of Essen in the district of Fulerum. It is the second largest burial ground in the city after the park cemetery. 2878 victims of both world wars are buried here.
Wikipedia: Südwestfriedhof Essen (DE), Website, Heritage Website
52. Stadtgarten Essen
The city garden Essen is Essen's oldest publicly accessible green area. It is located south of the Essen Central Station in the South district, between the Aalto Theater, the Philharmonie and the neighboring district of Rüttenscheid.
53. Steeler Wasserturm
The Essen-Steele water tower at Laurentiusweg 83 in the Essen district of Steele was built in 1898 on the highest geographical point in Steele and drew its water from the Steeler waterworks on Westfalenstraße directly on the Ruhr.
54. Amtsgericht Steele
The Essen-Steele District Court is located in Essen-Steele District and has jurisdiction over the districts of Burgaltendorf, Byfang, Freisenbruch, Horst, Kray, Kupferdreh, Leithe, Steele, Uberruhr-Hinsel and Uberruhr-Holthausen.
55. ChorForum
The church of St. Engelbert is located in the southern quarter of the city of Essen. It was designed by architect Dominikus Böhm and consecrated in 1935. In 1993 it was placed under monument protection. It was profaned in 2008.
56. Geschossdreherei
The Krupp steelworks, or Krupp foundry, or Krupp cast steel factory in Essen is a historic industrial site of the Ruhr area of North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany that was known as the "weapons forge of the German Reich".
57. Haus Horst
Haus Horst, also known as Horst Castle, is a former knight's seat on the northern bank of the Ruhr high above the river in the Essen district of Horst. It is listed as an architectural monument and as a ground monument.
58. Ehemaliges Press- und Hammerwerk Ost
The press and hammer mill east was part of the Krupp cast steel factory. Since 1992, the now redesigned, listed workshop in the western quarter of the city of Essen has served as a parking garage for a furniture store.
59. Grugaturm
The Grugaturm is a 29-metre-high observation tower in the Grugapark in Essen's Rüttenscheid district and a monument of classical modernism. On top of the tower is the logo of the park in the form of a stylized tulip.
60. Jugendhalle Schonnebeck
The Jugendhalle Schonnebeck is a gymnasium and festival hall in the Essen district of Schonnebeck, which was first used as an exhibition building in Cologne in 1914, then reused in Essen and is now a listed building.
61. Die unendliche Geschichte
The Neverending Story is a fantasy novel by German writer Michael Ende, published in 1979. The first English translation, by Ralph Manheim, was published in 1983. The novel was later adapted into several films.
62. Korteklippe
The Korte cliff is a viewpoint on Lake Baldeney. It is located in the Schellenberg Forest near the Essen district of Heisingen. It is named after the Essen horticultural director Rudolf Korte (1878–1950).
63. Evangelische Kirche Heckstraße
The Evangelical Church Essen-Werden is a church in the Essen district of Werden. A special feature of the church is the interior design with rich floral elements, which is unusual for a Protestant church.
64. Gnadenkirche Dellwig
The church in Essen-Dellwig is an Evangelical Church of the municipality of Dellwig-Frintrop-Gerschede. It was inaugurated in 1894 and declared a monument after reconstruction after the Second World War.
65. Gerhard Meyer-Schwickerath
Gerhard Rudolph Edmund Meyer-Schwickerath was a German ophthalmologist, university lecturer and researcher. He is known as the father of light coagulation which was the predecessor to many eye surgeries.
66. Heilig Geist
The Roman Catholic Holy Spirit Church in the Essen district of Katernberg is a branch church of the parish of St. Nikolaus. It was consecrated in 1957 and has been a listed building since February 2019.
Wikipedia: Heilig-Geist-Kirche (Essen-Katernberg) (DE), Website, Heritage Website
67. Klusenkapelle St. Aegidius
The Klusenkapelle St. Ägidius is a small church building in the Essen district of Bredeney. The chapel is named after Ägidius. The building ensemble includes the Kotten Klusemann and other buildings.
68. Energie
The sculpture Energy by Günter Steinmann was commissioned in 2007 and reinstalled in the Essen district of Rüttenscheid in 2016 after the construction of the new east entrance of Messe Essen in 2016.
69. Deutsche Bank
Essener Credit-Anstalt AG, headquartered in Essen, was a regional bank that was a leader in financing the expansion of heavy industry in the Ruhr area during the German Empire and the Weimar Republic.
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