Raketenstation Hombroich

Description

In Neuss, near the Ortsteil Holzheim, lies the Raketenstation Hombroich; the site belongs to the Stiftung Insel Hombroich and today uses the former military installation as a museum and cultural venue. It was formerly home to a NATO missile position.

The military use began in the 1960s: in 1962 a barracks for 300 Belgian soldiers was built on Neusser Straße in Grevenbroich-Kapellen. In the following years the Raketenstation in Neuss-Hombroich was developed on roughly 13 hectares and was commissioned in 1967 by a Belgian missile squadron. The complex included a nearby radar installation at the Kapellen town exit. Nike-Hercules missiles of the MIM-14 type were stationed on the site; they had ranges of up to 150 kilometres and could be fitted with the W31 nuclear warhead. Three launch bases formed the core of the facility, which served deterrence and national defense. Between 1968 and 1985 units of the Belgian Air Force (55 Smaldeel) and US soldiers (Team C 507th Artillery) were stationed there. In the 1980s there were protests and sit-ins in front of the facility, including in January 1984. In the wake of the INF Treaty the missiles were dismantled and removed in 1988; the site was closed in 1990.

Since the 1990s the area has gradually been transformed into a cultural site. The grounds were purchased in 1994 and existing buildings were redesigned; planning ideas for further architecture and sculptures were presented in 1996 at the 6th Architecture Biennale in Venice. From 1994 onward a team of designers and artists was involved in the development. Today composers, visual artists, writers and scientists live and work on the grounds. In 2004 the art and exhibition building of the Langen Foundation, designed by Tadao Ando, was completed. To the north the historic Strategische Bahndamm bounds the museum grounds; for this area the Stiftung is planning the Raumortlabor project with a mix of built development and nature. After 2007 the completion of some construction projects was initially uncertain; a house for musicians based on plans by the architect Raimund Abraham was finished in 2014 and offers practice rooms, communal areas, apartments, a studio room, a library as well as a usable courtyard and an underground arena. In 2016 a sculpture hall opened to the south, designed and built by the artist Thomas Schütte. In 2020 the grounds presented the stilted teahouse Ein Stein by the architect Terunobu Fujimori; the wood was charred using the Yakisugi method to make it water- and insect-resistant, accompanied by a photographic exhibition of his teahouse architecture.