About us

The Center for Urban History and Industrial Culture Wuppertal collects and preserves the material and textual heritage of the city of Wuppertal, researches and documents the city's past, and advises on issues of communal remembrance culture. We see the collection and preservation of material objects, memories and practices relating to the industrial, cultural, everyday and urban history of Wuppertal as a necessary basis for present and future research and outreach activities.

With its legal mandate to safeguard sources on the history and esp. contemporary history of the city, the Wuppertal City Archive forms an interface between past, present and future. By indexing and making available authentic documents for the state and society, the City Archive makes an important contribution to safeguarding the democratic constitutional state and the personal rights of citizens. As a partner and part of the public administration, the City Archive advises the municipal offices in all questions of document management as well as the sorting out and takeover of their records. It also preserves historically and culturally significant non-official archival records.

Wuppertal's special significance as a pioneering region of industrialisation in Germany is evident in the authentic sites of the Museum Industriekultur Wuppertal. There, the early industrial cultural heritage is conveyed in all its social, technical, economic and cultural historical breadth. We bring Wuppertal's rich industrial culture closer to the public through guided tours of the city, industrial-cultural routes and maps, as well as through numerous events, lectures, etc. As extracurricular places of learning, the City Archive and the Museumindustriekultur open up the city and industrial history for children and young people through a variety of dimensions of learning, thinking and feeling. Our educational programs arouse enthusiasm for the unique history of Wuppertal as a pioneering industrial city.

In the Engels House, visitors also learn about the life and work of Friedrich Engels, probably the most famous son of the city of Wuppertal. As a co-founder of communism, mentor of the labor movement and fact-rich social critic, his ideas and work remain relevant today. We see this as a mandate to promote and initiate the scientific and socio-political examination of his work. In addition, we preserve and make accessible the historical traces that Friedrich Engels and his family left behind in Wuppertal.  

With our educational work we want to reach all age groups and social classes. From our permanent and special exhibitions to guided tours, educational programs, workshops, lectures, publications and public relations work, we communicate our themes through a wide range of media and forms of discussion. We aim to make all our offerings barrier-free. With new museum concepts, we want to contribute to doing justice to the complexity of lifestyles and identities in our democratic and pluralistic society. Because: All people have a right to cultural participation! 

The Center for Urban History and Industrial Culture is an anchor point and forum for the urban and industrial history of Wuppertal. It offers support to all historical societies in Wuppertal. We cooperate in partnership with many other cultural and scientific institutions - locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.

The Center for Urban History and Industrial Culture Wuppertal sees itself as a lively and open cultural hub. We provide impulses and stimuli for a critical examination of the history, present and future of our society.