Kamp-Lintfort: Monastery, Mining and the Mining Park

Kamp-Lintfort brings together monastic culture, the history of mining and a large mining park. If you’re looking for a hotel in Kamp-Lintfort, these different highlights can help you plan your stay: Would you like to discover art and church architecture, learn about industrial change or encounter animals?

Kamp Abbey: Art, Gardens and Church Architecture

The Kamp Abbey Museum displays precious original items from the abbey’s former furnishings. These include the Kamper Antependium, an altar frontal from the 14th century. This individual work is displayed alongside other original furnishings, offering a tangible insight into the art of the monastic period.

The architecture makes its own distinctive impression: the newly built Abbey Church of Kamp Abbey, which has been preserved to this day, reflects the Cistercian style in its understated design. The Chapel of St. Mary is part of the church. This makes it possible to consider the building’s design and furnishings as different aspects of monastic culture.

The Baroque terraced garden is a popular day-trip destination known well beyond the region. From there, you can look up toward the Abbey Church and the abbey complex, which is a popular photo subject. The gardens, church building and museum each offer a different focus, so there is more to see than just one individual sight.

Mining History and Change at the Mining Park

The City and Mining Information Centre presents the history of Kamp-Lintfort and its mine. The exhibition covers various periods up to the end of coal mining, then turns to structural change and the subsequent reuse and repurposing of the mining site. It is therefore not only about the era of mining, but also about how the site’s story continued afterward.

Friedrich Heinrich Mining Park covers around 25 hectares and offers space for exercise and relaxation. Its landmarks include the monumental headframe with an observation platform and the historic steel framework. These industrial landmarks give the park a different character from Kamp Abbey: here, mining machinery and the history of the colliery shape the scene, while the abbey’s furnishings and church architecture take centre stage there.

Animal Encounters and Guided Tours

The family-friendly Kalisto Animal Park in Friedrich Heinrich Mining Park offers opportunities to pet alpacas and rabbits, watch meerkats and feed chickens, among other activities. Animal encounters are the focus of this outing. Check the animal activities and access arrangements before you travel.

In the training mine, former miners explain their working lives, the equipment and anecdotes from the days of Friedrich Heinrich Colliery during guided tours. Visits are available on request; also take the seasonal break into account when planning. The tour offers a personal insight into the former working world, while the information centre explores the history of the mine and structural change in an exhibition.

More Things to See in the Wider Wesel Destination

As additional regional context within the wider Wesel destination, consider exploring Xanten’s Roman heritage. The LVR Archaeological Park Xanten, Germany’s largest archaeological open-air museum, is located on the site of the Roman city of Colonia Ulpia Traiana. The LVR Roman Museum displays original finds from the city and the two legionary camps; they tell the story of the Roman city’s foundation, heyday and downfall.

Bislicher Insel in Xanten offers a very different experience: it is one of the last near-natural floodplain landscapes on the Lower Rhine and is protected over a large area. In winter, it serves as a home to several thousand Arctic geese, including greater white-fronted and barnacle geese. Along the path, three observation huts overlook the water and offer the chance, with a little luck, to spot numerous bird species.

Discover more destinations: Moers, Voerde, Sonsbeck, Hünxe, Schermbeck, Wesel, Neukirchen-Vluyn, Dinslaken

Back to the main travel guide: Wesel.