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The Old Civic Hall, or Altes Stadthaus, a fine Neo-Renaissance structure built in 1899. A notable feature of the building’s façade is the large eagle representing the city of Dortmund. Another nearby old building worth seeing is Berswordt Hall, the Town Hall.
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Dortmund’s marketplace for almost 900 years may have a modern aspect today, but it is still the sociable centre of the city. Up to the Second World War the town hall for the Free and Hanseatic City was located on Alter Markt. In warm weather outdoor bar and cafe seating fills the plaza and turn the square into a giant beer garden, if Borussia Dortmund plays the Alter Markt completely black and yellow. There’s a reminder of the square’s trading history at the Bläserbrunnen fountain: the horn-player stature sculpted in 1901, and the pool underneath used to be a drinking fountain for livestock.
Opera House
The theater of Dortmund is one of the largest in the entire country. Because of the constantly updated array of concerts, music theatre, drama, ballet and children's and young peoples theatre performances, there is plenty of choice for all ages.
At the eastern end of Westenhellweg, this is the oldest standing church in Dortmund’s Innenstadt. The Marienkirche is a blend of Romanesque and Gothic architecture. Its earliest sections were built in the 1100s while the later Gothic elements are from the 14th century. Sadly the Marienkirche was totally destroyed in the Second World War, but not before its medieval art had been removed for safe-keeping: The middle panel of the Beswordtaltar from 1380 has a Gothic painting evoking the Swoon of Mary. The Marienaltar meanwhile was composed by the Dortmund painter Conrad von Soest in 1420, and even though it was cut down in 1720 to fit a new Baroque reredos is still a masterwork of International Gothic art.
Probsteikirche
It was built from 1331 as the abbey church of a Dominican monastery. Consecrated in 1458, it features a late-Gothic high altar by Derick Baegert which shows the oldest depiction of Dortmund.
The Reinoldikirche the main Churche in the city of Dortmund. The Baroque spire of St Reinold’s Church rises over Willy-Brandt-Platz at the geographical centre of Dortmund. The building was raised in the 13th century after a fire claimed its predecessor, and it has a Romanesque nave and Gothic chancel. In the middle ages St Reinold’s Church was Dortmund’s spiritual centre, and was the main parish church up to the Reformation in the 16th century. There’s a lot to see inside, like a 14th-century statue of St Reinoldus, a stool on the south side of the choir from 1462 and the magnificent retable on the high altar carved by the Flanders-born Master of Hakendover 1420. Be sure to scale the tower’s stairs to the observation platform just beneath the clock.