Andreas Lousberg
Mönchengladbach has surprises in store outside of the Federal football league as well: Art, culture, party quarters, and castle parks turn the city on the Lower Rhine into a diverse destination where old and new meet in many different locations to supplement each other with their contrasts.
MGMG AWD
Cafés, clubs, and chats
Going out in the old town
Tradition and modernism are close together even in the old town. St. Vith, the town’s oldest inn, was built at the Alter Markt as an abbey’s guest house in the first half of the 17th century. Its menu covers savoury brewery dishes and beer from Brauerei Bolten in neighbouring Korschenbroich, the world’s oldest brewery of top-fermented German dark beer. The latest trends are on the menu at the Graefen next door, where current star DJs will perform from time to time as well. Other VIPs show their faces there, too, including football players of the “Fohlen”, as the players of Borussia Mönchengladbach are called.
Mönchengladbach’s inner city offers plenty of opportunity for extensive shopping trips. The Hindenburgstraße is a popular shopping mile. In addition to its many small stores, the Minto 4-star shopping centre is a great eye-catcher that houses about 100 stores, cafés, and restaurants on four floors. Shops and restaurants in the old town around Waldhausener Straße are smaller, but no less diverse. Owner-managed stores offer anything from books, to shoe repairs, to unpackaged foodstuffs – and a visit there will include a nice little chat as well.
Johannes Höhn
Art throughout town
Out on the sculpture mile
Figurative art is at the focus of the Museum Abteiberg, located above the old town. The building by star architect Hans Hollein offers visitors great special exhibitions of contemporary art and a collection of works by Man Ray, Joseph Beuys, Andy Warhol, and Sigmar Polke. Right behind the building, further eye-catchers created by Alexander Calder, Thomas Rentmeister and others are placed in the sculpture garden. Anyone who continues roaming the city can discover a total of about 30 sculptures on public squares, in parks, on buildings, and in courtyards. You can follow the sculpture axis leading past the Abteiberg on a route of about six kilometres to make sure that you will not miss a single one of them.
Johannes Höhn
Parks, castles, and brightly coloured birds
Enjoying nature in the city
Do you need a break after all that excitement? There are oases of calm spread throughout the town. One of the largest and most beautiful parks in Mönchengladbach is the Bunter Garten with its various sections, including the botanical garden with stone, herbal, and pharmacy gardens as well as a scent and tactile garden for the blind. Its great aviary houses more than 200 local and tropical birds. There is more flora and fauna to be discovered further away, among other things in the Odenkirchen zoo with its more than 500 inhabitants, or in the Schlosspark Wickrath. Baroque Schloss Wickrath itself is not open to visitors, but its beautiful castle park right by the Niers river is worth a visit on its own as well. A restaurant with a sun terrace serves coffee, cake, and other food and beverages in a spot with a beautiful view. Schloss Rheydt, in contrast, is the only fully preserved renaissance facility at the Lower Rhine. Its visitors are treated to views of the inner rooms and exhibitions on various subjects. The manor house contains a collection on renaissance art and culture, while the outer bailey has a series of changing exhibitions throughout the year, as well as a permanent exhibition on city history.
Tourismus NRW e.V.
Mönchengladbach and Manchester
Experiencing textile history
The history of textile metropolis Mönchengladbach is brought to life in the Textiltechnikum, placed in the historical Monsfort Quartier industrial area. Its looms, spinning machines, and other historical machinery are reminders of the past of “Rhenish Manchester” with effects that are still evident today. Visitors will learn about the original way in which flax was processed into linen in home weaving. They can experience the onset of industrialisation, too.
No matter if they prefer museums, public art, parks, or architecture, the Yona App will take visitors onto a diverse trip full of memorable experiences. All it takes to display the “Mönchengladbach Must Sees” with interesting information, photographs, and videos is scanning one of the maps spread all around the city with the Smartphone camera.
