In 1956 Recklinghausen became the third town to twin with Preston. Situated on the border of the Ruhr and Münster regions of Germany‚ Recklinghausen based its prosperity principally on coal mining‚ the last mine closing in 2001. Other major industries were textiles‚ plastics and agriculture from its outlying rural surroundings. Like Preston‚ Recklinghausen is the administrative capital of its region and is also an important cultural centre. 2006 saw the golden celebration of 60 years of partnership and was celebrated in the presence of the Bürgermeister Herr Wolfgang Pantförder and the Mayor of Preston‚ Cllr William Tyson.

Recklinghausen was first mentioned in 1017 but officially became a town in 1236. The town was placed under Prussian administration in the province of Westphalia in 1814. Two years later‚ in 1816 became the centre of its own Prussian district council. Coal mining started in 1869 and lasted 132 years. As you can imagine the population grew rapidly drawing workers in‚ many from Poland‚ to work the mines. Recklinghausen became a metropolitan town in 1948.

The town is the home of the Neue Philharmonie Westfalen philharmonic orchestra which performs the most exacting work all year round. The Ruhr Theatre Festival‚ or in German the ‘Ruhrfestspiele’‚ is the most important and well known event in Recklinghausen. The festival events take place in May and June and offer high quality theatre productions at the Ruhrfestspielhaus in the Stadtgarten or town park. The origin of the festival is an interesting story of co-operation between industry and art. The year of 1946 was a particularly cold one and the theatre of Hamburg was struggling with the cold. They asked the miners of Recklinghausen for help by the way of providing coal to heat the theatre. Happily the coal miners agreed. By the way of a big ‘thank you’‚ the theatre ensemble gave a guest performance in the town the following summer and the Ruhr Theatre Festival was born.

The town offers a mix of pubs‚ restaurants and cafes in which to relax after a hard days shopping at the many large and small shops. Alternatively the town is good to use as a base to explore the surrounding countryside and places of interest whether by car‚ foot‚ bicycle or horse.

Speaking of places of interest‚ Recklinghausen has a lot to offer. Architecturally the town hall building in the Weser-Renaissance style dominates the centre and is well worth seeing. St Peter Provost Church combines many architectural styles including Gothic and Baroque‚ dates back to 1166 and is considered one of the most impressive churches in Westphalia. There is also the old town market (Altstadmarkt) which hosts many festivals and events all year round and is a great starting point for exploring the old town centre. If eastern religious art is one of your interests‚ or even if it isn’t‚ the most important museum of this type outside the orthodox countries is situated here in Recklinghausen. Other types of art can be seen by visiting the art hall (Kunsthalle) or the ‘Vestisches Museum’. The history of electricity can be seen at the Museum Strom und Leben and the observatory and planetarium makes for a very interesting visit.

Recklinghausen has good road and rail links. The main A2/E34 runs across the south of the town and the A43 is just to the west.

Recklinghausen’s twinning links are administered by "Die Brücke" the Recklinghausen Institution For International Contacts And Integration.

Links:
www.recklinghausen.de	The official German language site for Recklinghausen.
www.kreis-re.de	An explanation of the ‘Kreisdistrict Recklinghausen’ in English. The rest of the site including ‘what to do’ and ‘where to go’ is in German.
Icon-museum Recklinghausen	The icon museum - the largest outside the Orthodox world - was founded in 1956 was reopened after renovation in February 2006 for its 50th anniversary.

Contact in Recklinghausen:

Monika.hegemann-Lescher@recklinghausen.de("Die Brücke")