Deserted German buildings

All of these buildings were discovered by accident in the space of two hours. We didn't search for them. We just followed the cues that we saw from the highway. Maybe the area is full of undiscovered ruins. Wouldn't it be wonderful if some German explorers took a closer look at this area? For us it's a 2-hour drive to get here ...

Sinful money ?

Wickrath - Along highway 61

Near Wickrath we stumbled upon this villa. Burnt and completely deserted. No traces of the inhabitants were left.

I was very curious about it's history. It had a "wrong" atmosphere, as if it was no ordinary rich family that had lived here. No, it had an illegal feeling about it - like drugs trade, or prostitution. No "white" money.

But I could be wrong. Maybe it was just the winter wind and the low clouds that created the eerie atmosphere.
The pool was especially "unheimisch". It had a complete dressing pavilion and under-water lightting. But it was full of debris and stinking rain water.

And it simply had the wrong kind of exaggerated luxury about it. Not kosher.

But it was not this villa tht we were searching. We found it by accident.

Airship-size glass-houses

In fact we were looking for these deserted glass houses that we had seen from the highway.

Some people were still living in the area, cars were parked here and we could hear the dogs barking. The glass-houses had a lot of broken panes but they looked like they would soon be used again. But their size was amazing. We walked along the railroad tracks to see them from the other side.

Entry forbidden - we must come back sometime

Just across the border we drove through the town of Kaldenkirchen. It has a gigantic modern water tower - not shown here - but we found that it's a nice dreary industry town with a wonderful depressive atmosphere. It's exactly the kind of town where there's nothing else to do but to drink, go to the cinema and the "kegelbahn". Very grey, with some old-style factories with peeling plaster and grey neo-gothic churches (Kaldenkirchen = Cold Churches) to enhance the depression even further. I must return here around Christmas - then it really must look like suicide ...

Kaldenkirchen - Nettetal - South of highway 61

This beautiful factory was in the process of renovation. It had been a spinning-mill and carpet factory. It was open on all sides, but there were workmen inside. We didn't get permission to go inside and we were explicitly forbidden to take any pictures. The people were most unfriendly. But we took the pictures anyway.

But the whole town was full of this kind of building - from the early 20th century - there must be some deserted buildings in this area. We simply must come back sometime.

It's a pity my good camera is still broken. The small pocket camera can't handle the dreary February light - the most beautiful, most depressing time of year ...
The modern industry in this town is just as dreary, dirty and beautiful. This is the opposite side of the tracks. Which one is the "wrong" side here? They're both equally bad - and they're both very explorable.

We saw several small electric motors in the grass along the tracks - who would spill such objects ?

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© 2002 Petr Kazil - 3 July 2002