Zollverein

 

 Kokerei Cafe, recommended for lunch if you visit Zollverein. They serve "typical coal miner meals" in an excellent way for an affordable price.

It's perhaps not a particularly new idea to convert the former industrial complex into something cultural. Beijing has the 798 Art District; Toronto has the Distillery District; Berlin has the Berghain nightclub (by far the best nightclub that I've ever been to). But Essen's Zollverein former coal mine industrial complex, particularly the Kokerei (coking plant) designed by Fritz Schupp (the 4th and 5th photos above), is probably the most aesthetic. It's worth a visit if you happen to be around the Ruhr district of Germany.