Current Time in Gelsenkirchen, Germany

Gelsenkirchen lies in the heart of the Ruhr, the great industrial region of western Germany, in the state of North Rhine Westphalia. The city spreads across flat ground between the Emscher river and the Rhine Herne Canal, and it merges almost seamlessly with its neighbours Essen, Bochum, Herne and Bottrop to form part of one of the largest continuous urban areas in Europe. Its landscape is a distinctive mixture of housing estates, canal banks, allotment gardens and the reshaped hills of former mine spoil.

About two hundred and sixty thousand people live in Gelsenkirchen. For most of the twentieth century its importance rested on coal and steel. So many mines and coking plants worked here that the city was nicknamed the city of a thousand fires, and it drew workers from Silesia, Poland, Italy, Turkey and elsewhere, leaving a population of remarkable diversity. The last colliery closed in 2000, and the city has since worked hard on the difficult transition to new industries, promoting solar energy and research to the point where it now calls itself a solar city.

Settlement here was small and agricultural until coal was found in the middle of the nineteenth century. Growth was then explosive, turning scattered villages into a major industrial centre within a few decades. Heavy bombing during the Second World War destroyed much of the built fabric because of the synthetic fuel plants nearby. Post war reconstruction, followed by the long decline of mining from the 1960s onwards, defined the generations that came after, and unemployment remains a serious challenge.

The most famous institution in the city is the football club Schalke 04, one of the best supported in Germany, whose modern arena with a retractable roof and sliding pitch hosts international matches and concerts. Nordsternpark, laid out on a former colliery beside the canal, is a striking example of industrial transformation, with a huge sculpture of Hercules standing on top of the old winding tower. The ZOOM Erlebniswelt zoo is among the most innovative in Europe, recreating the landscapes of Africa, Alaska and Asia so that visitors travel by boat and footpath rather than passing rows of cages.

Schloss Berge and the Renaissance Schloss Horst offer older history, while the Musiktheater im Revier, decorated with works by Yves Klein, is a celebrated example of post war architecture and a serious venue for opera and dance. Markets, Turkish and Polish shops and a busy pedestrian centre in the Buer district reflect the everyday character of the place.

Trams, light rail and regional trains connect the city closely with the rest of the Ruhr, and motorways and canals still carry freight. A technical university of applied sciences provides engineering education, and a science park built on an old steelworks site supports research into renewable energy.

Gelsenkirchen is a compelling place to understand modern Germany, a city rebuilding its identity after the end of coal while keeping the solidarity and passion of its industrial past.