The picturesque village of Gruiten is idyllically situated in the valley on the River Düssel and is often referred to as the “pearl of the Niederberg region”. The reason for this is the historic village centre, which consists of numerous listed half-timbered houses, all of which have a story to tell and draw visitors back into the past.

Gruiten and the “silver of the Bergisches Land”

The origins of the settlement are estimated to date back to the year 1000. Today, we can only speculate about the origin of the name. Perhaps it is an allusion to the soil composition of the region: limestone. The mining of the “silver of the Bergisches Land” was not only the economic centre of the village for several centuries, but also shaped the surrounding landscape, as several pits and quarries can still bear silent witness today.

Many traces of the great importance of lime mining for Gruiten can still be found in the town today. Numerous houses were built entirely or partially from limestone, including the former town hall. There are even references to lime mining in the municipality’s coat of arms, which is symbolically immortalised with a rock face and a pickaxe.

A living open-air museum

Strolling through Gruiten-Dorf is like travelling back in time. The village owes its numerous listed and well-preserved half-timbered houses from centuries past to its tradition- and heritage-conscious population. The vicarage, for example, was officially categorised as completely dilapidated in 1916. Today it still stands and was restored with great craftsmanship after the devastating flood of 14 July 2021. Visitors to the village will feel a little like they are in an open-air museum thanks to the buildings that have been maintained. Particularly worth seeing are the 14th century “Haus am Quall”, the former weaving mill converted into a kindergarten, the “Doktorhaus” built in 1750 and the church tower from 1075 in the Catholic cemetery.

Audio guide about Gruiten on your smartphone

Thanks to the initiative of Anno Schmitz, Ralf Poppel and Wolfgang Stötzner from the Bürger- und Verkehrs-Verein Gruiten (bvv-gruiten.de), the village of Gruiten can now also be explored using a mobile phone: Together with the Hearonymus app and the audio guide “Tour of the historic village of Gruiten”, the smartphone becomes an interactive guide. This accompanies the visitor through 22 chapters with a wealth of background information and vividly conveys everything worth knowing about the tranquil village of Gruiten. As a little extra, the rare manual carillon, known as the “Beiern”, has even been included in the guide.

The app and audio guide can be downloaded to your smartphone in just a few clicks. The guide can now be listened to indefinitely and without an internet connection. Whether at home or directly on site. The audio guide “Tour of the historic village of Gruiten” can be listened to anywhere, as often as you like. The app can be downloaded free of charge from the App Store or Google Play. The audio guide is also available free of charge on Hearonymus.