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Nordwolle: Living industrial heritage |
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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".
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