Krefeld, Germany

Krefeld sits on the Rhine in North Rhine-Westphalia and is home to around 228,000 residents. From 1700 to 1900 the city stood at the centre of European velvet and silk production, supplying the Vatican and the Russian court. The German Textile Museum, founded in 1877, preserves some 30,000 fabric samples, while Haus Lange and Haus Esters, built between 1927 and 1930 by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, now house the Kunstmuseen Krefeld. The medieval Linn district holds the 1708 Mennonite Linn Castle and Burg Linn, one of the best-preserved medieval castles on the Lower Rhine, and a quieter chapter of its story still waits in its workshops and lanes.