File:Herne - Schlosskapelle - Flickr - Rutger van der Maar.jpg

Herne

The Schlosskapelle (castle chapel) of Strünkede is Herne's oldest building. The brick building with the polygonal 3/8 choir has the oldest traces on its southern side with the ashlar surrounds, which could perhaps come from the founding building in 1272. The remaining part was probably built in the 14th/15th century.

The current roof turret from the post-war period replaces a small baroque hood. In 1948 the chapel and the castle became the property of the city of Herne. After a thorough restoration, during which the Gothic vaults that had been destroyed by fire bombs, it is still used today for church services by smaller religious communities in addition to concerts, weddings and baptisms. ________________________________________________

Herne is the 53rd largest city in Germany and the tenth largest in the Ruhr region with a population of 157,000. The city in its current boundaries is the result of several regional reforms through which surrounding communities, including the former large city of Wanne-Eickel, were incorporated into Herne or merged with this city. Herne has the fourth highest population density of all cities in Germany.

Like most other cities in the region, Herne (ancient Haranni) was a tiny village until the 19th century. When the mining of coal (and possibly ore) and the production of coke (the fuel processed from the harvested coal) and steel began, the villages of the Ruhr area slowly grew into towns and cities because of the influx of people, mostly from the east of Germany and other countries in Eastern and Southern Europe.

After World War II Herne was known as "Die Goldene Stadt" (The Golden City) because of the comparatively limited damage suffered during World War II. ________________________________________________

After visiting the Ruhr area three years ago, I did a revisit, since there was still so much to see. In less than six days I visited six cities, two museums, and I did some extensive car spotting by bicycle. I have hundreds of car spots to share and took photos of the historic or interesting buildings.

The Ruhr area ('Ruhrgebiet') is named after the river that borders it to the south and is the largest urban area in Germany with over five million people. It is mostly known as a densely-populated industrial area. By 1850 there were almost 300 coal mines in operation in the Ruhr area. The coal was exported or processed in coking ovens into coke, used in blast furnaces, producing iron and steel. Because of the industrial significance, it had been a target from the start of the war, yet "the organized defences and the large amount of industrial pollutants produced a semi-permanent smog or industrial haze that hampered accurate bombing". During World War II, the industry and cities in the Ruhr area were heavily bombed. The combination of the lack of historic city centres, which were burned to ashes, (air) pollution, and urban decay has given the area and the cities a bad reputation.