File:Essen - Essener Münster (Dom) - interior.jpg

Essen Minster (German: Essener Münster), since 1958 also Essen Cathedral (Essener Dom) is the seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Essen, the "Diocese of the Ruhr", founded in 1958. The church, dedicated to Saints Cosmas and Damian and the Blessed Virgin Mary, stands on the Burgplatz in the centre of the city of Essen, Germany.

The minster was formerly the collegiate church of Essen Abbey, founded in about 845 by Altfrid, Bishop of Hildesheim, around which the city of Essen grew up. The present building, which was reconstructed after its destruction in World War II, is a Gothic hall church, built after 1275 in light-coloured sandstone. The octagonal westwork and the crypt are survivors of the Ottonian pre-Romanesque building that once stood here. The separate Church of St. Johann Baptist stands at the west end of the minster, connected to the westwork by a short atrium – it was formerly the parish church of the abbey's subjects. To the north of the minster is a cloister that once served the abbey.

The church was consecrated in 1316. During World War II, the Minster caught fire and suffered heavy damage – the oldest parts of the building, the westwork and the crypt were less heavily damaged. Between 1951 and 1958, the damaged parts were rebuilt.

Essen Minster is noted for its treasury (Domschatz), which among other treasures contains the Golden Madonna, the oldest fully sculptural figure of Mary north of the Alps. __________________________

After visiting the Ruhr area three years ago, I did a revisit, since there was still so much to see. In less than six days I visited six cities, two museums, and I did some extensive car spotting by bicycle. I have hundreds of car spots to share and took photos of the historic or interesting buildings.

The Ruhr area ('Ruhrgebiet') is named after the river that borders it to the south and is the largest urban area in Germany with over five million people. It is mostly known as a densely-populated industrial area. By 1850 there were almost 300 coal mines in operation in the Ruhr area. The coal was exported or processed in coking ovens into coke, used in blast furnaces, producing iron and steel. Because of the industrial significance, it had been a target from the start of the war, yet "the organized defences and the large amount of industrial pollutants produced a semi-permanent smog or industrial haze that hampered accurate bombing". During World War II, the industry and cities in the Ruhr area were heavily bombed. The combination of the lack of historic city centres, which were burned to ashes, (air) pollution, and urban decay has given the area and the cities a bad reputation.

Essen is the ninth largest city in Germany and the second largest in the Ruhr region with a population of 585,000. Essen was founded around 845 and received its town charter and seal in 1244, when city walls were erected. At the end of the 16th century, many coal mines and the weapon industry began to flourish.

Essen's history has been closely intertwined with the Krupp family from the 16th century. In 1811, Friedrich Krupp founded Germany's first cast-steel factory in Essen and laid the cornerstone for what was to be the largest enterprise in Europe for a couple of decades. The weapon factories in Essen became so important that a sign facing the main railway station welcomed visitors Hitler and Mussolini to the "Armory of the Reich" (German: Waffenschmiede des Reiches) in 1937. The Krupp Works also were the main reason for the large population growth beginning in the mid-19th century.