Places of interest

The city's landmark, built 1618-1624 in Dutch Reanaissance style. Destroyed and rebuilt after the end of the Second World War. Together with St. George's Church, the oldest building in Bocholt, the Historic Town Hall on the market square forms the centre of the town. The wedding room is a popular place to get married.

St. George's Church is the first parish church in the town. It is considered one of the oldest and most important church buildings in Westphalia. The foundation stone was laid in 1415 and the church was completed in 1486.

In 1972, Bocholt was awarded the honorary title "Municipality of Europe", followed by the European flags and the designation "European City". The awarding of the title was the occasion for the creation of the Europe Fountain in front of the Historic Town Hall. Artist Friederich Werthmann designed the steel sculpture for the 750th anniversary. He used a sphere in openwork form to represent it. The globe, the earth disk and the sun ring are symbolised.

Bocholt, the town with two town halls. On Berliner Platz is a town hall built in the 1970s with a cultural centre and theatre. It is the seat of the administration. (Note: The town hall is currently being renovated, as of 11/2022).

The well-known Cologne architect Gottfried Böhm was awarded the Pritzker Prize for this town hall.

As a museum of history as well as a museum of art and folklore exhibition areas, the Bocholt City Museum is an important source of information on the history and culture of the Bocholt area.

The museum houses the valuable art collections of the engraver Israhel van Meckenem (15th century engraver) and the estate of the stage designer Josef Fenneker.

Important note: The museum is currently closed due to renovation needs. Please check the museum website for the latest information.

Since 1996, Osterstraße 69 has been home to an art house. The villa in neo-Renaissance style has been restored by the owner of the house - the Stadtsparkasse Bocholt Foundation for the Promotion of Science, Culture and Environmental Protection - and rented to the City of Bocholt. The Kunsthaus is a venue for contemporary art exhibitions.

Discover the textile industry of the 20th century: The LWL-Museum Textilwerk of the Landschaftverband Westfalen-Lippe in Bocholt was opened in 1989 as a museum factory modelled on historical examples.

A boiler house with chimney, a machine house, a production hall with shed roofs, workshop, offices, warehouse, gatehouse and porter's lodge, coach house, railway track and workers' houses are home to a Münsterland weaving mill from the turn of the century.

The building of the former Herding spinning mill (photo) was added in 2011. The building with more than 4,000 square metres offers space for exhibitions, collections and events.

Large special exhibitions show the interaction between social developments, fashion and clothing

The Handicrafts Museum was founded on the private initiative of master carpenter Walter Dues. Over five decades, Dues has collected old handicraft tools, aids, equipment, books and drawings that bring the art of craftsmanship to life.

In a half-timbered house, visitors are given an insight into the workshops of carpenters, joiners and co.

22 different crafts can be seen in the museum with their working tools and work results.

The Liebfrauenkirche is a Catholic parish church, formerly a Minorite monastery church, built between 1785 and 1792 in the late Baroque style. The church was extended between 1912 and 1913. After the town church of St. George, the Liebfrauenkirche was planned around 1310 as the second parish church in the town. The building was completed in 1316.

The historic steam engine, popularly known as the "Fuckepott", stands near the shopping arcades. It is one of the few lying steam engines in Germany still preserved in its core part.

In 1972, the demolition hammer hovered over a relic from the early days of the steam engine, which had been preserved on the Ostwall on the site of the former weaving and roughening mill Tacke & Piekenbrok. Today it is a reminder of the age of industrialisation with a once flourishing textile industry in Bocholt.

The masonry chimney is an industrial monument near the shopping arcades. The 32-metre-high relic from 1857, the age of industrialisation, is built in an octagonal shape with iron bands on a square base.

The obelisk in front of the town hall on Berliner Platz is a replica of a Prussian milestone on Berliner Platz, built in 1985. It is 470 km from its location to Berlin. For a long time, Berliner Platz was a "symbol of post-war urban development" and in this respect was characterised by sober reconstruction.

The light column on Ravardistraße is a concrete pillar about 17 metres high. The multifaceted light reflections are striking due to the multi-faceted cut of the aluminium cladding. The light column was built in 1984 by the artist Prof. Heinz Mack.

Due to the constantly changing light reflections, the work of art is visible from afar and changes colour depending on the time of day.

The memorial at the South Bridge was created in 1970 by the Israeli sculptor Ellen Bernkopf. The memorial commemorates the victims of the two world wars and the concentration camps.

The admonition is not to forget what man can inflict on man: "... A memorial to commemorate the fallen of both world wars, the victims of the concentration camps and the destruction in the city and the country, that seemed to me a monstrous, hardly manageable task..."

Green oasis of the city: Several attractions make it a forest with recreational value. Ponds, walking paths, animal enclosures with wild boars, fallow deer, red deer, goats and sheep, a large playground, a Wild West-style steak restaurant and the toboggan hill invite you to visit. In addition, there is a popular "Trimm-Dich" trail with three running tracks of different lengths.

Nature experience and local recreation at the Aasee with many play and sports facilities. Swimming, surfing, sailing, running, Nordic walking, adventure playground, gastronomy and more - the Aasee offers many opportunities for recreation.

The Aasee bathing bay with sunbathing lawn offers bathing fun on hot summer days.

The Aasee also has recreational facilities with mini-golf, a skater track, skateboard ramp, sports fields, climbing fun (deep ropes course) and skateboard hall. An attractive destination for young and old and a popular meeting place for kids.

On a Bocholt Aa-See island

there has been a Chinese pavilion since 2001. It comes from China and is a gift from the city of Wuxi, which has been friends with Bocholt since 1985. It has deliberately given this special gift to the citizens of Bocholt, who have built up and cultivated a wide range of economic, cultural and private links over the past decades. At the time, the pavilion was delivered in around 1,000 individual parts and had to be painstakingly put together. In the Feng Shui calendar, the year 2001 was a "time for the creation of beauty" and 24 September was "no day for business". The then President of the German-Chinese Society Bocholt e.V., Hans-Josef Dahlen, therefore chose precisely this day for the inauguration of the pavilion. A similar model can also be found in Wuxi on Tai Hu Lake.

The Efing (Kornbusch) manor house is located northwest of the town. It is a two-storey manor house, dated 1665 and 1965, with a high mansard roof. A sturdy octagonal stair tower stands at the main front. In the meantime, the house is surrounded by housing estates.

The Woord manor house was built between 1792 and 1795. The two-storey manor house is made of brick and ashlar with a hipped roof. It was extended in 1934. After the destruction of the war, the manor house was rebuilt in its old form and the outbuildings in a modified form.

Diepenbrock Castle is located in the Barlo district. It is an old knight's seat, first mentioned in 1326 as an Arnheim fief owned by the Lords of Diepenbrock.

The rectangular two-storey manor house with a high hipped roof and round towers at the south-west and north-east corners consists of four parts built between the 15th and early 17th centuries.

There are rare and remarkable trees in the castle park. The water feature on a quarry site is also striking.

Diepenbrock Castle is privately owned. Therefore, only an outside visit is possible.