Henrichshütte, Industrial museum in Hattingen, Germany
Henrichshütte is an industrial museum in Hattingen, Germany, set on the grounds of a former steelworks and displaying a 55-meter-tall blast furnace along with original production equipment from metallurgy. The site includes several factory halls where visitors can see ladles, rolling mills, and other machines once used for steel production.
The works were founded in 1854 and produced steel for over 130 years before closing permanently in 1987. At its height the mill employed several thousand workers and shaped the economic life of the region for generations.
The name honors Count Henrich zu Stolberg-Wernigerode, who supported the founding of the works and whose family was closely tied to the industrial history of the Ruhr region. Today the preserved factory halls and machines show how workers melted and shaped metal across generations, giving a direct sense of everyday life inside a steelworks.
The museum lies on Werksstrasse 31-33 and opens Tuesday to Sunday from 10 to 18. Reduced rates are available for students and people with disabilities, and paths across the large site require sturdy footwear.
Visitors can watch the Bessemer process as molten metal is poured into molds and then climb the platform of the blast furnace to look out over the industrial landscape. From up there you see the surrounding spoil heaps and plants that have shaped the Ruhr region for decades.
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