Hoheward dump

With the closure of the Ewald colliery in 2000, a massive landscape conversion began, at the center of which were the Hoheward and Hoppenbruch heaps - deposits from the Recklinghausen II, Ewald,schlägel and Eisen and General Blumenthal/Haard mines. Together with Ewald and the Recklinghausen-Hochlarmark district park, the largest contiguous heap landscape of hard coal mining in Europe today forms the Hoheward Landscape Park.

The Hoheward heap was created in the 1980s by merging the Ewald heaps in the west and Emscherbruch in the east. A small settlement that used to lie between the two embankments was demolished and a railway track was tunneled over. With a total area of ​​around 170 hectares and a height of 111 meters, Hoheward is the giant of the Ruhr area heaps. The artistic design is also unique: the 45 meter high steel arches of the horizon observatory and the obelisk of the horizontal sundial can be seen from afar. Even the access is an experience: from the east you go over the "dragon bridge", from the north more than 500 steps lead to the summit. The "Balcony Promenade" and the "Ewald Gallery" guarantee impressive views. In contrast, the Hoppenbruch heap, which was filled between 1978 and 1992, only has a volume of 34 million tons and a height of around 70 meters. As early as 1983 it was partially replanted and opened to visitors. It has not been under mountain supervision since 1992, is freely accessible and offers an impressive view of Hoheward. The central element on Hoppenbruch is the topic of energy: a wind turbine on the summit can supply up to 800 households with electricity; a sculpture park at the foot of the wheel explains further details about the possibilities of wind power. The Halde is not only a popular destination for walkers, but also very popular with cyclists thanks to a system of routes for mountain bikes, some of which are even suitable for competitions.

Since 2014, the permanent exhibition "New Horizons - On the Traces of Time" has been on display in the Hoheward Visitor Center, located in the former payroll and light hall of the Ewald colliery. In addition to models of the heap plateaux, the interactive exhibition also offers hands-on horizon astronomy and clearly explains the connection between mining and heaps. Together with the city of Herten, RAG Montan Immobilien GmbH is redesigning the site of the Ewald colliery, an anchor point on the route, into the Ewald location of the future. On the basis of its integrated action plan Emscherland 2020, the Regionalverband Ruhr (RVR) is developing further projects for the Hoheward landscape park together with the cities of Herten and Recklinghausen, including the "AktivLinearPark" in the southern heap area. A variety of exercise options are to be created here, for example two pump tracks and an outdoor fitness studio.