slide show: Impressions of Ratingen
Impressions of Ratingen

The market place
The historical centre of Ratingen is looking the same as it was in medieval times, when it was surrounded by walls and towers. The central position of the place indicates that there had been held markets very early, even before the town was founded. In 1371 Ratingen was allowed to be a town.

The Catholic church St. Peter and Paul
This church is situated just next to the market place. It is one of the oldest hall churches in the Rhine area. It originates to the 8th century. Since then it was rearranged in some ways but its appearance is the same since the 19th century. Very interesting is that the church is still having three very old bells, which are listed historically.

Die Wasserburg “Haus zum Haus” ( A castle surrounded by water)

There, where you can find the Wasserburg today, a court was set up in the 12th century, which was destroyed by a fire soon after.
Later at the end of the 13th century a second court was built, called the “Masters of the House” . You can still find remains of this court in the two round towers and in one of the walls.
During the centuries the court dilapidated more and more and in 1973 the owner of the estate gave it to the town of Ratingen as a present. An architect, called Bruno Lambart, got the court in hereditary lease. He had totally reconstructed the building. In one part of the court there is a restaurant, in the other part there are a firm and the office of the Mr. Lambart.

Cromford

The year 1783 was very decisive for Ratingen. The merchant Johann Brüggelmann founded the cotton mill according to the English example of a factory. It was the first one in Germany that was constructed as a factory. The so called water frame machine enabled the manufacturer to produce threat as mass production.
The manor house was built from 1787 to 1790, Its style reminds you to the Castle of Benrath, which is part of Düsseldorf. The manor house was very representative and it was more for a king than for a manufacturer.
Mr Brüggelmann not only built a luxury villa for himself and his family but he also built flats for his workers. His aim was to tie his workers to the factory. Today Cromford is a very important testimony of the Rhineland Industrial Museum.

The old town hall (Bürgerhaus)
The Bürgerhaus ( Domus Consilium)was first mentioned in 1300. In this house there were not only the major and the members of the town council but also did the open basement serve as a market hall where the master of the market put the prices on a board. Here people could also find a big scale on which products of higher weight were first put and then sold.
The Bürgerhaus got its present appearance in 1751 and it has not been changed since then.
In the 19th and 20th century there was housed a court house, a museum, the library. Today you can find a restaurant there.

Here you can see a relief of Ratingen from it beginning to the present. It not only shows the positive sides of the history but also it negative sides as well as the two world wars. This relief you can see on one wall of the Bürgerhouse, aside from the market place.

Der Dicke Turm (The Thick Tower)
The Thick Tower was one of the fifteen watchtowers, which were built around the inner circle of the town. It is thirteen meters high and its walls are about three meters thick. Behind the walls you can still see the moat. The walls of the town wall were about seven meters high.

Der Trinsenturm
Another tower is the Trinsentower, It was built in 1474. The word “Trinse” is originated from the word “Trense”, which means snaffle. This was a leather belt for swords. On the occasion of the 650-year-town-jubilee the tower got its appearance how it can still be seen at present. The window shutters are in red and white, the official colours of the town.

The Protestant Church

As the Protestants didn’t have a church until 1653 they started to build their own one. But there had been a lot of difficulties to finish the church, so it was opened not before 1684. Very famous is the Weidtmann-organ. The family Weidtmann lived in Ratingen who was popular for building organs.
The church is the oldest Reformer church in the Rhine area. You can see this in its puritanical architecture.