This Sunday was named 'Open Monuments Day' in Germany, allowing free access to a number of sights. A fair share of visitors found their way to the Ironworks in Völklingen too. This Saarland WHS also attracts international visitors, because it is situated very close to both France and Luxembourg (and not too far from Belgium and The Netherlands). The complex is huge, so allocating crowds isn't a problem.

Although there are guided tours I decided to explore the site on my own. Everything worth seeing has displays in German, French and English, so that's no problem. I can also recommend watching the multimedia presentation right away after you enter the site. It puts the different buildings in their context.

Exploring the ironworks involves quite a lot of climbing and peeking around corners. No wonder this site is a favourite with kids. Of course, I borrowed a hardhat too and climbed the rows of see-through stairs to the viewing platform. Although everything in this complex is huge, it's also interesting to see that all parts of the production process are quite close together. The raw products were moved around in small carts via an ingenious transport system.

One of the most remarkable buildings I found was the Water Tower (dating 1918), with room to hold 3 million litres of water from the river Saar. The tower is one of the earliest large concrete buildings in Europe. It's next to the parking lot, so probably the first thing you will see.