Shot-gun weddings can turn out happily – as it proved when in 1975 Herne and Wanne-Eickel were amalgamated. Particularly if they share a common past.In the twelfth century the lineage of knights of Strünkede settled in Herne, whilst the powerful Tabo ruled in Eickel. From the middle of the last century, however,quite different rulers determinatd the fated country and people, the “colliery barons”. While today the former moated castle of the Strünkede is a reminder of its early history, a number of sights testify to the more recent past: the Teutoburgia housing estate, built for the miners and now renovated to a new standard, the redesigned brewing house in the former Hülsmann Brewery, the Herne Town hall, an example of the New Objectivity Movement, or the green spaces of Gysenberg Park, the first park in the coalfields.