Every design for Duisburg

Duisburg is known above all for its port, the largest inland harbour in Europe, where barges, trains and lorries meet at the confluence of the Ruhr and the Rhine. It is a city of steel and logistics, and in recent years it has become a terminus for freight trains that run all the way from China.

Its history reaches back to a Frankish settlement, first documented in the ninth century. Duisburg traded on the Rhine and was briefly a member of the Hanseatic League, then lost importance when its old harbour silted up – only to rise again with coal, iron and steel in the nineteenth century. For many who grew up here, the memory of the city is the sight of ships sliding past at Ruhrort and the glow of the furnaces at night. The Innenhafen Duisburg, where old warehouses now hold offices and museums such as the Museum Küppersmühle für moderne Kunst (MKM), shows how the city has learnt to live with its past. The Schifferbörse and the Museumsschiff "Oscar Huber" keep the river trade alive in memory.

Wherever its people end up, the Rhine still pulls them back to the place where the two rivers meet.