BOCHUM tourist attractions

Bochum is one of the largest cities in Germany and is now an important service and cultural center of the region. In the past it belonged to large hard coal mining centers, but now most of the mines are closed and some of them are open to the public.

Although the city's history dates back to the 9th century, until the first half of the 19th century it was only a local commercial center, and the inhabitants dealt with agriculture. Already in the 16th century, the local hard coal deposits were discovered, but they were initially exploited on a small scale, using the opencast method. It wasn't until the 19th century that the mining methods changed, and the first deep mines were built at Bochum.

Today, the most important attractions are the Bochum Mining Museum with exhibitions showing the history of coal mining in the area. You can also visit the Hanover Mine, which includes Steam engine from the late nineteenth century. Tech enthusiasts also have the opportunity to visit one of the largest Bochum-Dahlhausen Railway Museum in Germany.

As if in spite of its industrial roots, Bochum is a city very green and full of larger and smaller parks. The city park is one of the oldest in the Ruhr region. On its territory there is the historic Bismarck Tower. The Botanical Garden with a separate Chinese Garden is also very popular, as well as Ruhr Park.

Bochum is also associated with dinosaurs. It is here that Germany's oldest fossils of these prehistoric reptiles were found. There are several dinosaur figures set up throughout the city. There is also the Fossilium Bochum museum dedicated to them, which operates at the local zoo.