Every design for Eschweiler

Eschweiler is known for coal: mining shaped this town on the river Inde from the time of the Celts until the twentieth century, and the Eschweiler Bergwerksverein, founded in 1838, was the first mining joint-stock company in Prussia. Today the old spoil heaps are wooded hills and an opencast pit has become the Blausteinsee.

What makes Eschweiler stand out is the sheer number of castles and manors scattered across its almost circular municipality. Burg Eschweiler keeps three towers from the thirteenth century, the Nothberger Burg and Burg Röthgen stand among the villages, and there are more at Kambach, Kinzweiler, Palant and Weisweiler. The Inde runs through the middle, the woods of the Eschweiler Stadtwald rise in the south with the Schwarzer Berg, and the Belgian and Dutch borders are close by.

Eschweiler has lost whole villages to the brown-coal diggers and rebuilt its centre more than once, yet it remains a lively carnival town. Coming back past the towers by the Inde, you know you belong here.