Tiger & Turtle – Magic Mountain

From a distance Tiger & Turtle looks like a roller coaster someone left on a hill in south Duisburg. There are no cars: you walk the curves, climbs and drops yourself, step by step. Only the loop is off-limits. The giant sculpture by Heike Mutter and Ulrich Genth was created for the Ruhr.2010 European Capital of Culture and has been one of the Ruhr's best-known photo subjects since it opened on 12 November 2011.

Art on an industrial spoil heap

The sculpture stands on the Heinrich-Hildebrand-Höhe in the Angerpark. The heap is partly made of slag from a former zinc smelter that closed in 2005. Fittingly, the track is built from galvanised steel. The design won a City of Duisburg competition in 2009. Construction ended up costing two million euros, against a planned 1.4 million.

Facts and figures

• Track: 220 metres, split into two walkable sections of 140 and 60 metres, so you come back the way you went up.
• Steps: 349 steel gratings, 220 of them walkable.
• Height: about 20 metres to the top of the loop; the highest point you can reach is at 13 metres.
• Weight: around 90 tonnes.
• Light: 880 LEDs in the handrails make the track glow after dark.

Because the heap rises 35 metres above street level, at the top you stand about 48 metres up, looking over the Krupp Mannesmann steelworks, Duisburg city centre and the Rhine. In clear weather, and especially at night, you can see as far as Düsseldorf with its Rhine Tower and airport.

Visiting

Tiger & Turtle is open day and night and admission is free. In storms, high winds, snow and ice it is closed for safety. A maximum of 195 people may be on the track at once. Because the walkways are less than a metre wide, it gets tight on the steep sections. Sturdy shoes are a must, and the upper stretches are uncomfortable if you are afraid of heights. Allow 30 to 60 minutes for the climb up the heap and a walk on the track.

Tram 903 stops at "Tiger & Turtle". The Angerpark has no car park of its own, but you can usually find a space in the surrounding residential streets. Access is via Ehinger Straße.

Tripto tip

Come at dusk. That is when the LEDs switch on, and you see the illuminated sculpture and the lights of the steelworks below at the same time.