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The Ostpark is the green lung of the Kaiserviertel and active cemetery. The interesting thing is the atmosphere between dignified burial, joggers many people that came to Ostpark to play football, take a sunbathing and simply enjoy the day.
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Franziskanerkirche
Beautiful small Catholic Church next to cementary.
Under the constant gaze of the Florianturm on the south side of Dortmund, the Westfalenpark is a paid-entry 70-hectare green space with a multitude of little attractions to keep you engaged a whole afternoon. The horticultural areas deserve a detour: The Deutsches Rosarium has 3,000 different rose varieties, but also stages annual events like the electronic Juicy Beats festival in summer and the Lichterfest (Festival of Lights) in winter. Another summer attraction is the chair lift, which opened in 1959 and runs on Sundays between a “Mountain” and “Valley” station 500 m apart. There’s also a miniature railway, a bird enclosure with flamingos and a pond where you can hire a rowboat.
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.
Old Civic Hall
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.
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.