A colleague based in Germany recommended visiting Landschaftspark when she heard I was going to Düsseldorf, and I’m so glad she did. It’s one of the most unique and intriguing places I’ve ever visited. I’ll detail all and show off my photographs in the post below (okay, I did steal a few of these pics from my friends who visited with me).
The last industrial operation carried out on sight was in April 1985, and 4 years later the bid to transform the area into a regenerative park was accepted. The park was opened in 1991 as Duisburg began to move on from its’ industrial past in the face of German reunification. Rather than dust over the fact the region was home to many power plants, and factories, Landschaftspark was uniquely devised to pay homage to that industrial side, whilst slowly allowing the area to be reclaimed by nature. Peter Latz, a German landscape architect and former professor at the University of Munich led the reclamation project, and Johnathon Park installed the light display in 1996, and it has been illuminating the park in the dark on weekends and public holidays ever since.
It was such a mesmerising experience, a unique place that I could not compare with anywhere else I’d ever visited. I had visited parks before (who hasn’t) but never a park that echoed vibes of the past and future simultaneously. It felt like we were in a video game and some Mad Max-esque villagers were about to emerge, the perfect horror setting.
Urban exploration is such a niche, yet increasingly popular pastime with many people exploring derelict buildings, but industrial parks are a bit more difficult to access for health and safety reasons – which is why Landschaftspark is great, it has been designed since disuse as an accessible park, with a viewing deck at the top of one of its’ old blast furnaces
Mixed with art installations, it has become a trendy hang out for Duisburgers, with barbecue areas and a piazza intended for gatherings and small events. Whilst the parks intended purpose was to show the reclamation of nature, the park is also home to the ‘wilderness’ habitat, which is closed off to the public and has allowed true reclamation to take place – now hosting over 700 species of plants, over 40 species of birds, in addition to bats, toads and countless species of insects.
We had arrived through the main gates, about a 5 minute walk from the Landschaftspark tram stop. Upon entering the park, our first sight was an old train parked, with what looked like it could be an atomic bomb on the back of it. To the left of the train was a restaurant where we decided we’d ask for directions around the park and have a quick drink. The waiting staff weren’t very forthcoming with information so we decided to just delve into it and explore it ourselves.
When we walked through past the bomb train, we were greeted by a big courtyard where you could see the large illuminated chimneys, but no real indication of the correct way to walk around the park, so we just sort of wandered until things made sense to us.
After this, we sort of circled around a row of the industrial buildings before finding a pathway. Here we discovered eerily empty old storage rooms.
After venturing up the stairs to the left, we eventually were on the right path to locating the blast furnace (and viewing deck). But I won’t bore you with details of the adventure, I’ll just jump straight to the fun part, more pictures of this unique park:
To sum this park up, it is an amazing experience to just wander around at your own leisure, and to look at what you wish at your own whim with no guide telling you that you can’t do so. You are on edge whilst exploring in the dark as it has horror-esque vibes to it, but it’s more than worth it. It is free to visit and the light show is 100% worth visiting during the dark. We were pretty much the only people there too, save for a handful of locals. The only advice I’d give to any potential visitors, is to bring a good camera as my phone’s lack of night vision resulted in many grainy photos.
