No name is more closely associated with the city of Essen than Krupp. At the beginning of the 19th century, the entrepreneurial family ushered in the age of industrialization in Germany by founding its first own cast steel factory. At the beginning of the 1870s, Alfred Krupp, who made the company one of the most important industrial enterprises of the time, had a prestigious residence built for the family in Essen, the Villa Hügel.
With 269 rooms and 8,100 square meters of living and usable space, generations of the Krupp family lived in the villa above Lake Baldeney for seven decades. At the same time, the imposing building, set in an English landscape park, was a venue for receptions and festivities. Emperors and kings, politicians and dictators, entrepreneurs from all over the world as well as scientists and artists were guests here. After the property was confiscated by the Americans at the end of the Second World War, the family got it back in 1952 and made it available to the general public in the interests of promoting art, science and culture. Today, Villa Hügel is owned by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation, which has opened it to the public as a museum.
Visitors can find out more about the history of the family dynasty and the history of the company in the "Little House". In the rooms of the former guest house, which have been largely restored to their original state, the Krupp Historical Exhibition explores the question of how the company was able to survive for two centuries despite deep economic crises, social upheaval and several wars. Visitors are also invited to search for traces of history themselves.
Extensive park grounds
A tour of the former reception rooms, the dining room and the library in the "Great House" provides an insight into the lifestyle of the upper middle classes. The ballroom and a representative living room on the upper floor are fitted with a glass roof. In addition to historical furniture, such as Alfred Krupp's massive double desk, and numerous family portraits, the fine tapestries with which the Krupp family decorated their home are particularly striking. From 1913, the "Upper Hall" of the house was redesigned especially for the tapestry series "The Seven Liberal Arts". The decoration of the Garden Hall, which connects the Great and Small Houses, was coordinated with the tapestry series "Scenes from the Acts of the Apostles" in the style of Louis XIV.
Villa Hügel is surrounded by extensive parkland, which has changed several times over the centuries and now attracts more than 100,000 visitors every year. Amidst the old trees, they repeatedly come across artistic sculptures and exotic plants that were probably planted in the Hügelpark between 1890 and 1914. And there is something else that distinguishes this unusual "family home". It has its own railroad station, Essen-Hügel, which was inaugurated in 1890 by Kaiser Wilhelm II, a welcome guest of the Krupps. Today, the S-Bahn line 6, which runs here, enables a resource-saving journey.
