:bsz international. You recently moved here in order to study and don’t know what to experience first? Here are a few honourable mentions in terms of sightseeing in the heart of the Ruhr area. We recommend the history of mining, local football and beer.

The first must-see should be the Deutsches Bergbau-Museum (DBM), located north of the inner city. It is one of the most visited museums in Germany – with approximately 365,700 (2012) visitors a year – and the largest mining museum in the world. The exhibition is mainly separated into an above-ground exhibition, featuring several objects associated with thousands of years of mining and the processing of raw materials including their influence on the development of the human race, and “a visitor mine constructed to resemble a real mine, with a network of about 2,5 kilometres of tunnels”. The tunnels showcase the impressive machinery dealt with in day-to-day work underground and offers an additional immersive experience with a simulated shaft descent. The museum is closed on Mondays, from Tuesday to Friday you can visit all exhibitions from 8:30 am to 5 pm, on weekends and holidays the museum opens at 10 am. Students only pay a reduced fee of 3 Euro. 

German tradition 1

Not only new to Bochum but new to Germany as well? You might need to know that Germans are pretty fond of their beer – and so is Bochum. “Fiege” is a local brand that has almost achieved a sacred estate. Its history dates back to 1736, when Moritz Fiege has been mentioned documentarily for the very first time. The brewery located in the inner city was built in 1878. The street’s name back then was Scharnhorststraße, which was changed to Moritz-Fiege-Straße in 2013. Nowadays, tourists as well as locals have the opportunity to take guided tours through

the brewery. This tour is supposed to stimulate almost all the human senses, encouraging you to “see, feel, smell and taste” the “true art of brewing”. Tickets for the BrauKultTour are available for 

15,85 Euro. From Monday to Thursday, the tours take place from 6:30 pm to 9:30 pm. A special tour is offered on Fridays, from 4 pm to 7 pm.

German tradition 2

But Germans are not only fond of their beer. Football plays an important role in many people’s lives and coined the regional culture for several decades. Bochum is home to the German association football club “Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft“, usually simply referred to as VfL Bochum. The team currently competes in the second Bundesliga. It is highly recommended to at least once visit one of the club’s home games, as it provides a special experience by connecting pro-football to getting to know local culture. It would be best to visit a game on the side of the home fans, which allows to suck in the concentrated emotions as good as possible. Tickets for a home game are available for around 10 Euro. If you arrive early enough, make sure to grab a “Fiege” and a “Dönninghaus”, the famous local bratwurst.  

:Tobias Möller