For parents and children, friends, families and singles, couples and cliques…read more From Sauerland Museum in Arnsberg to West German Ski Museum in Winterberg-Neuastenberg: There is something for everyone. Whether young or old, alone or with friends: The Museums of Hochsauerlandkreis offer with its diverse topics interesting content for everyone. History, industry, trade and agriculture, but also art and literature or village and National are the facets, with which our museum landscape ones. You will see: In the triangle between the Arnsberg, Marsberg and Winterberg, in addition to the magnificent landscape a lot to discover. And if you do not want to back away, you can naturally enjoy.

The Folkwang Museum is an awesome place with a moving history and some unique art on display…read more Perfect for an autumn day.

(my visit was in September 2015)…read more Oh, I am so conflicted about the museum. I appreciate art, I worked in the arts, and I want it to flourish and be shared with as many people as possible, but the curation was so poor. Let's start with the good: there's no admission charge for the permanent collection. Now to the bad: There are some great, fantastic pieces on exhibition, but the low quality displays are so distracting. Artwork is encased in plastic or glass that is slightly opaque and reflects a glare, so it's incredibly difficult to see the pieces in their full glory. The lighting is inconsistent and absolutely awful in some rooms. The museum benefits from beautiful floor-to-ceiling windows that let in so much light, but then you turn a corner and enter a room with fluorescent lights 40 or 60 ft up on the ceiling, casting shadows that shroud the pieces. At the time I went, there was a special exhibit area showcasing a piece of installation art that was fantastic. The staging in the room was done properly: let the artwork be the focus and configure the room and setting around the art. And don't expect too much from the gift shop. I was hoping to pick up a few postcards or souvenirs to send home but was sadly disappointed with just books and knick-knacks. It's no MoMA or Met.

LWL Industrial Museum - Zeche Zollern is the world's most beautiful coal mine. The colliery was…read morebuilt between 1898 and 1904 as a prestigious sign to competitors that it was the leading mining company on the market. At first sight, with the palatial redbrick facades stylish Art Nouveau elements, the beautiful buildings dotted around a grassy square are more reminiscent of an aristocratic residence than a coal mine. By 1969, following the crisis in the coal industry, the Zollern colliery was closed for good. Shortly before excavators arrived on the site to demolish the buildings the state conservation officer saved the colliery from destruction by listing it. Thus the Zollern colliery became the first industrial building in Germany to be awarded the status of a monument. In 1981 the LWL integrated Zollern into its State Museum of Industrial Heritage. The central machine building, designed by Berlin Jugendstil architect Bruno Möhring, is iconic. The machine hall's original 100-year-old conveyers, converters and compressors are an exhilarating relic of the steam age. The various sections of the exhibition take you into a world of harsh working conditions and the stories of the men and women who worked in coal mining during the 20th century. A subterranean gallery in the machine building features beautiful and creepy art installations.

A unique site in that it was meant to impress rather than only serve a function. Very quiet in…read moreterms of visitors, and on the day I visited the machine house was closed. There are exhibits in a few of the buildings which are interesting concerning history from the life of miners to forced labor during WW2. This is the only site next to the Bergbau Museum in Essen where one can climb to the top of one of the hoists, and boy is it towering. Easy to get to by train and a 10 min walk.