Beckum celebrated its 750th birthday in 1974, but it isn’t just a dead historical town full of museums. It has both feet planted firmly in the now. Cemented there, actually. Polysius AG is one of the biggest employers in town, and you’ll easily pick out the office towers in the newest part of the town.
Building the town anew amid the old structures was necessary after WWII, as Beckum was an early participant and the site of a very violent Kristallnacht, although it wasn’t bombed flat like other areas.
The neo-Gothic arches on the Rathaus capture the essence of the style will still conforming to modern standards of sturdiness.
Like most of downtown Beckum, you’ll notice that although the Rathaus was redone in 1983, it still blends perfectly with the Old World charm of the town. Neatly remade, the crisp outlines of the central structures belie the ancient nature of the original plans from 1440.
Several cool old gems were preserved, and you can see many of them by walking down Nordstraße. The lower half of Nordstraße has the old Jewish synagogue and school, as well as the Jewish cemetery, which is more than 300 years old.
Once you’ve walked the old quarters, you can keep on going to the outskirts of the town. Beckum has a ton of hiking trails and recreation areas, so you can easily spend an afternoon enjoying nature. There are three streams that come together in the area to form the Werse river, and hiking any one of them is both picturesque and relaxing.
After your hike, you can end your day back at the Marktplatz, and have a beer out in the square. Try to get the locals to tell you stories of the Schildbürger, which are quite funny. In a thumb at the local government, the Schildbürger featured on the local emergency currency of the 1920’s, and copies of the notes make great souvenirs of your visit to Beckum.
