Excursions, afternoon trips:
Excursions, day trips:
Please note that excursion tickets are neither included in the registration fee nor a MUST.
Detailed information on ticket prizes will follow soon. In July, all registered participants will receive a newsletter asking for ticket orders.
Participants who need a visa for Germany should ask for a "Schengen" visa which covers the trips to Luxembourg and Strasbourg, too.
Descriptions:
1. "Summer at Kirkel Castle - Experience the Middle Ages"
Kirkel Castle, first mentioned in 1075, was destroyed in 1689. Besides the ruins to be found above ground large parts of the medieval settlement are well preserved underground. Here a whole host of fascinating details from at least seven centuries is hidden - being archaoelogically explored at present.
The good condition of the impressive walls give evidence of the importance and fortification of the former imperial fortress.
During the "Summer at Kirkel Castle" there are several guided tours to the excavation site daily. Visitors can watch the excavation team at work and thus experience the archaoelogical securing of evidence of the past. Afterwards the found objects are presented, conveying an insight into the former living conditions at the castle.
"Summer at Kirkel Castle" enables you to jump into the century of knights, squires and medieval artisans. Here you can experience the past - and most important of all - with a lot of fun in an informal environment you have the opportunity to try your skills with the artisans.
The village of the artisans on the lower level of the castle will make you forget every-day life. With professional help the visitors can make their own utensils similar to those found by the excavation team. In the huts you will find a stone sculptor, a wood workshop, a blacksmith and a tailor's. The pottery is equipped with a foot-driven potter's wheel to produce ceramics just like six hundred years ago. There is also a bakery for visitors to join in. The large oven which is fired with wood supplies hearty sour dough bread and other delicacies from biologically controlled growing.
At the weekend there is even more fun: meals are served in a "knightly round" at the campfire together with mead and home-made beer - just as during the Middle Ages. Also you can try crossbow and archery. Each weekend there is a special event - music and dance, medieval theatre or travelling entertainers. Visitors in medieval costumes are warmly welcomed.
2. "The Old Völklingen Iron Works, part of the world's cultural heritage"
The Völklingen Iron Works was one of the last iron works to be founded in Western Europe in the nineteenth century (1873). After the end of World War II, only five Saar iron works were still in operation, of which the Völklingen plant was the youngest.
The Old Völklingen Iron Works is a unique monument of the technological history and industrial culture of the nineteenth as well as the twentieth century. It provides an unusually complete illustration of a large-scale pig iron production process which is of major historical interest. The plant is a symbol of human achievement during the first and second industrial revolution. It is a "cathedral" of the industrial age.
Since being closed in 1986, the Old Völklingen Iron Works has been a listed site; in 1994 the "Hütte" (iron works) was added to UNESCO's World Heritage List.
Guided tours are available every day (except on Mondays) and take you to all the important stages of pig iron production (sintering plant, coking plant, blast furnaces, charging platform, tapping levels, etc.). Here you will enter the world of large-scale engineering which is usually hidden from view. The high points of the tour are a visit to the blower house, with its massive gas blowing engine, and the climb to charging hopper for blast furnace 6.
Experienced iron works guides, including former master ironworkers, will provide you with information on the functions and connections in pig iron production at the Old Völklingen Iron Works, explain the plant to you and describe everyday working life there.
For further information: http://www.weltkulturerbe-vk.de, e-mail: info@weltkulturerbe-vk.de