Kettwiger PanoramaSteig

Since 1964, visitors young and old have been able to see red and fallow deer, wild boar, mouflons and lambs at the Heissiwald wildlife enclosure.

www.wildgatter-essen.de

The Moon, distant planets and galaxies light-years away—all of these can be observed at the Walter-Hohmann Observatory in Schuir.

www.walter-hohmann-sternwarte.de

Only traces in the landscape of Haus Schuir, a medieval moated castle, remain visible in the pasture. However, a Neoclassical manor house dating from the 18th century stands nearby.

The pilgrimage chapel “Maria im Maien” is located in the small hamlet of Pierburg. It is used for special devotional services, as a pilgrimage destination and for wedding services.

The Kettwig Municipal Forest covers around 109 hectares. Numerous information boards about the respective “Tree of the Year” line its paths. The forest is part of the “Essener Aussichten”.

Once you have conquered the steep path up to Kettwig Bilstein, you are rewarded with panoramic views over the Ruhr Valley. This viewpoint is also part of the “Essener Aussichten”.

The Old Kettwig Railway Station was built in 1873 in the Round-Arch Neoclassical style. Today, it is a community and cultural centre offering concerts, cabaret, seminars, sports classes and culinary events, among other things.

www.bahnhof-kettwig.de

The double-track bridge over the Ruhr has been in service since 1951. Its predecessors were blown up at the end of World War II. Today, the S-Bahn runs from Essen to Cologne across the bridge.

www.essener-ruhrperlen.de

First mentioned in documents in the 9th century, Schloss Oefte is one of the region’s oldest manor estates. The listed castle complex and its park are now used by a golf club.

A Jewish cemetery established after 1830 is located on Pastoratsberg. Its gravestones, around 70 of which remain, date from between 1845 and 1938.

It’s worth stepping off the trail from time to time. The Rutherhof is just around a ten-minute walk away. Here, you can try your hand at the special sport of swingolf, among other activities, or visit the “Die Farm” restaurant.

Not far away, the Kammesheidt family has been running the farm of the same name for seven generations. It once belonged to Werden Abbey as a fief. Today, its listed buildings provide a unique event venue where you can celebrate weddings and birthdays or hold seminars. The family has also been breeding Galloway cattle since 2006.

Duration: approx. 20 minutes

www.rutherhof.de

www.kammesheidt.de

The Kettwiger PanoramaSteig offers a short detour to the historic old town of Kettwig. The most important architectural monuments in Essen’s largest—and perhaps most idyllic—district are marked with QR codes from Essener Ruhrperlen, so you can access images, text and audio on your mobile device.

The roughly one-hour tour begins behind the Kettwig weir bridge. Turn right across the Mühlengraben bridge, where Kettwig’s grain mill stood in the Middle Ages. Pass the bridge café, turn right at the intersection and follow Ruhrstraße past historic half-timbered houses. After about 100 metres, turn onto Hexenbergweg at the Jakobusvikarie, built in 1525 by cleric Rutger Hommelberg. This leads directly to Bürgermeister-Fiedler-Platz, home to Kettwig Town Hall. It consists of an old and a new building; today, the new building houses the council chamber of District Representation IX and the local history museum. The old building served as a cloth factory until 1867. Between 1935 and 1940, the town of Kettwig extended the building with a tower and a west gable with a bay window for the mayor’s office, featuring beautiful stained-glass windows.

Follow the market to the left, past the bourgeois townhouses built in a uniform neoclassical style in 1832, and continue along Hauptstraße. On the left stands the Protestant church on the market square, whose oldest parts date back to the 13th century. A row of historic buildings surrounds the churchyard. Continue straight along Hauptstraße, past architectural monuments from several centuries, and after about 200 metres turn left onto Ruhrstraße. After another 100 metres, you will see St. Peter’s Catholic parish church on the right, completed in 1830.

Follow Ruhrstraße to the left, passing “Nachtwächters Grotte” and the group of houses on Tuchmacherplatz. The square is home to the Weberbrunnen fountain. From Tuchmacherplatz, Kirchtreppe runs up a narrow alley to the Protestant church. Ruhrstraße takes us back to the Mühlengraben, which we cross over the bridge. From there, on the right, you can see the former turbine house of the Scheidt cloth factory, dating from 1901, as well as the classically slate-clad round tower, now used as living space. The Weiße Flotte stop is located on the banks of the Ruhr; its boats travel as far as the Mülheim Water Station.

Duration: approx. 1 hour

www.essener-ruhrperlen.de