Stadtmarketing Delmenhorst GmbH
Rathausplatz 1
D-27749 Delmenhorst
fon +49 4221 99-2299
fax +49 4221 99-2244

Quelle: www.stadtmarketing-delmenhorst.de

The Nordwolle industrial site is one of the most impressive examples of Wilhelminian factory architecture. Formerly a major company in the textile industry, today the building has become a network for culture, creativity and modern living. The unique nature of the complex has meanwhile achieved international significance. In 2000, Nordwolle was one of the "worldwide projects" of the EXPO in Hanover, and since 2006 the former factory premises has become an anchor point in the European Route of Industrial Heritage, thus making it an internationally acknowledged industrial monument.

The historical buildings on the Nordwolle grounds with Delmenhorst City Museum and the Nordwolle Factory Museum with its impressive machinery, some of which is still in full working order, offer two exhibitions that show the history of Delmenhorst, as well as illustrating the development of the industrial revolution throughout the whole of Germany. The site also includes the factory owner's splendid villa and the housing built specially for the workers, offering a fascinating insight into the microcosm of those days, where working and private life were so closely entwined.

But the Nordwolle premises encompass the future as well as the past. Small trade businesses and advertising agencies, modern housing for young families, lively cafés and restaurants have restored Nordwolle today to what it always was: a "city within the city".

Delmenhorst City Gallery Haus Coburg in the picturesque setting provided by a restored bourgeois villa right on the banks of the river Delme, has become a centre for 20^th century art. It sets accents with three focal collection concepts. An atmospheric room in the house is dedicated to the paper work and paintings of the historical painter Arthur Fitger. The separate art museum with its "Stuckenberg Collection" presents a permanent exhibition of the avant-garde currents in Paris and Berlin, illustrated by the painter Fritz Stuckenberg and his companions such as Kandinsky, Marc, Feininger and Klee. Thirdly, the gallery also has a collection of contemporary drawing. Changing exhibitions of contemporary art and Classical Modern Art attract visitors from all over Germany. The annual Summer Festival is deemed to be the cultural highlight of the region.

No more than a stone's throw from the pedestrian area with its shops and cafés are the Graftanlagen, an extensive park right at the heart of town. Vast meadows, ancient old trees and wide stretches of water give the park an enchanted feel. The "Burginsel" (Castle Island) with its garden house and the foundations of the former moated castle bears witness to the early origins of Delmenhorst nearly 800 years ago when Count Otto von Oldenburg lived here.

Definitely not boring! Jazz festivals, chamber concerts, classic drama or comedies: Delmenhorst's "Kleines Haus" theatre is the place to be for first-rate cultural events of national renown. Famous actors, cabaret artists and musicians meanwhile include the Kleines Haus in their schedules, keeping the theatre packed with enthusiastic audiences. At the same time, Delmenhorst remains true to its roots with productions in the local Low German dialect: performances by Delmenhorst Low German Theatre attract around 20,000 visitors every year. Diversity, creativity and variety have turned the Kleines Haus into a highly respected cultural stronghold.

The curtain also regularly goes up for the city's young drama groups, concerts by the School of Music, events organised by the Culture Office and exhibitions in the theatre foyer.

The most popular guided tour in the city is the evening tour full of anecdotes and surprises with Jan Tut, Delmenhorst's last night watchmen, who even has his own monument in the city centre.

Together with this traditional tour, there are numerous other excursions along the lines of "Discover Delmenhorst" that offer fascinating information on unusual topics: stories of heretics, witches and counts, of strong women and their role in the city's history, of architect Heinz Stoffregen who played a crucial role in designing the cityscape in the early 20^th century. There are special tours of discovery for children, industrial heritage tours symbolised by the nostalgic lunch boxes going back to the days before Tupperware, and cycling tours for the more athletic visitors.

So let yourself go, and get carried away with the special impressions and insights into a highly varied city.

The 44 m high water tower is one of Delmenhorst's landmarks and offers a breathtaking view of the city, its parks and picturesque waterways. 200 steps go up to the tower's viewing platform. The tower is integrated in the extensive Town Hall complex as designed by architect Heinz Stoffregen. His linear, unadorned style, open arcades and open gateways made a lasting impression on the cityscape of Delmenhorst at the start of the 20^th century. It is definitely worth visiting not just the water tower but indeed the whole Town Hall complex.

One thing that makes the Culture Office team stand out is its knack for first-rate culture over and beyond the mainstream, offering a forum for cabaret, readings and lectures, jazz and a cappella concerts. The Culture Office holds its events at feasible and (almost) unfeasible venues, is unconventional and professional, with only one aim in mind: good entertainment!

At the same time, the Culture Office fosters up-and-coming young artists in many different areas, offering them know-how and financial support, for innovating, fascinating culture in Delmenhorst also in the long term.

His name is inextricably linked with the spectacular architecture of the Chile House in Hamburg, and yet Fritz Höger (1877-1949) also produced his impressive brick buildings in Delmenhorst too. The city hospital complex in particular, built between 1925 and 1928, is an impressive example of Höger's architecture, with unusual decorative elements enveloping the two-winged building structure like an expressionist tapestry.

Reform architect Heinz Stoffregen (1879-1929) from Bremen on the other hand shaped Delmenhorst's cityscape at the start of the century with clear, linear plaster facades, whose austerity is interrupted by large arches and curves. The Town Hall is just one breathtaking example of how he plays with elementary geometric shapes, using side wings, open arcades and archways to harmoniously link three areas. The cubist architecture of the whole building with its perfect lines of sight has been attracting visitors for nearly one hundred years.