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Photo: Frank Vincentz, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
While the musical only enjoyed moderate success in its native Anglosphere and it is by far not the best known work by Andrew Lloyd Webber among English-speakers, Germans have somehow taken a liking to it, which is even odder considering that Musical is not generally a well-regarded or popular art form in Germany compared to opera or theater. The Bochum production alone has amassed 16 million admissions during its three decade run. The venue was purpose built in the 1980s for this musical.
Starlight Express is a 1984 musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. It tells the story of a young but obsolete steam engine, Rusty, that races in a championship against modern locomotives of diesel and electric engines in the hope of impressing a first-class/observation car, Pearl. The actors perform on roller skates.
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69 years after the Pogrom Night of 9 November 1938, when nearly all Jewish synagogues were destroyed in Germany, Bochum got a new synagogue. It was realised according to plans of the Cologne architect Peter Schmitz. He offered a clear and plain concept. Schmitz designed an ensemble of three separated structures which are linked together by a common bodyshell.
Deutsches Bergbau-Museum
One of the best of its kind worldwide. Whatever you want to know about mining, you can learn it here. The site was never used for actual mining, but an extensive replica mine has been constructed underground for visitors, and the headframe of a nearby mine has been transported here to serve as a landmark.
Rathaus
Opened in 1931. Planned by architect Prof. Karl Roth. The layout is strictly symmetrical, the façade is plain. The hall divides the atrium in two parts, where fountains made of travertine and bronze are situated: on the left hand the fountain of beauty, on the right hand the fountain of happiness. The fountains were designed by Professor Vogel from Berlin.
Large in- and outdoor pools, green spaces
The monastery in Bochum-Stiepel was built in 1988 and is under supervision of the Abbott of Heiligenkreuz in Austria. An event is the claustal Christmas market where they sell artworks from Senegal.
Eisenbahnmuseum Bochum
For lovers of old steam engines, one of the largest railway museums in Germany. There are also heritage train trips on the railway line to Hattingen and then over an otherwise-closed line to Wengern on summer Sundays, once a month with a steam locomotive, once a month with a diesel loco, and once a month using a diesel railbus dating from the 1930s.