UNESCO-Welterbe Zollverein

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is ...? Zollverein, of course! The largest and most beautiful colliery in the world is said to be a star in everything: coal output, technology, chic steel trusses - even structural change looks exemplary! Guided tours for visitors explain this exceptional position and show how the railroad underpins it with coke deliveries to iron and steel mills in the Ruhr region and in southern Westphalia ...

Infotext read more: … For the coke extracted from the Ruhr coal fuels blast furnaces everywhere - including the Siegerland - and renders collieries particularly profitable. The Zollverein coking plant is located right next to Shaft XII with its famous double headframe - the "Eiffel Tower of the Ruhr". Today, the site offers exciting visitor attractions, such as the Ruhr Museum, the Red Dot Design Museum or the Gateway of Industrial Culture.

The Ruhr landmark attracts 1.5 million visitors a year - in North Rhine-Westphalia second only to Cologne Cathedral. The architects of the new Shaft XII, Fritz Schupp and Martin Kremmer, had this tourist appeal in mind from the very beginning. In 1929, while construction was still underway, they defined their vision of a "monument to the city, which every citizen should show to strangers with at least as much pride as its public buildings". Accordingly, a brick cladding made of steel framework covers the new pit from top to bottom. While this looks fantastic, based on the standards of the then-modern Bauhaus architecture, it is totally inconvenient for the workers. Because the brick walls, which are only 11.5 centimetres strong, offer no protection whatsoever from heat or cold, and on top of that, their echo effect multiplies the noise of the colliery's operations. What is even more absurd is that this model colliery, which concentrates the extraction of all mines underground and thus becomes a symbol for the streamlining of hard-coal mining, does not have enough toilets. Why? Because, as it is thought, there are enough toilets next door in the older 1/2/8 shaft. Unfortunately, the miners' opinion on the matter is not recorded.

The toilet issue does not affect the unprecedented success story of the Zollverein site, first opened up by industrial pioneer Franz Haniel with a shaft in 1847. Between 1851 and 1986, up to 8,000 miners extract a total of 240 million tonnes of coal here. Some of this coal also boosts the metal industry in South Westphalia, particularly since the completion of the Ruhr-Sieg railway line from Hagen to Siegen in 1861.

Steel Time Travel Destinations Nearby

Essen Cathedral with Golden Madonna

Essen

Schurenbachhalde

Essen

The "Steel Time Travelers" Luise & Alfred: UNESCO-Welterbe Zollverein

Lu:

Why did Franz Haniel build his colliery here - in Essen, of all places? Oh, there are several reasons: ...

Full dialog text: Lu: Why did this Franz Haniel build his colliery here of all places - in Essen?

Al: Oh, there are several reasons: Firstly, there's no end of fat coal under our feet, and secondly, he urgently needed it as coking coal for his ironworks in Oberhausen ...

Lu: ... and thirdly, the Cöln-Mindener railroad is right next door! Quite clever - everything in one hand: building ships, trains and machines, sinking shafts, mining coal, baking coke ...

Al: You forgot to mention making coal. Haniel, that jack-of-all-trades!

Lu: Just like you! And who is the biggest in the country ... and who has the most beautiful factory?

Al: The point goes to Haniel and consorts. If they keep it up, this will be the most beautiful mine - and the largest coking plant in Europe. Bigger ... than the sun, moon and stars!

Lu: Give me a break, dear Alfred. Now you're getting carried away - you're about to tell me that they're going to celebrate public festivals here to pay homage to you industrial barons!

Visitor information

Address:
Gelsenkirchener Str. 181
45309 Essen
Phone: 0201/246810
info@zollverein.de
www.zollverein.de

Opening hours:
Besucherzentrum Ruhr
Daily 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
The area is accessible 24 hours a day

"Benzene - fuel from coal" (1950)

Short description (film without sound)

Mining at Zollverein underground: a miner at a conveyor belt and two miners at a coal chute. The filled mine cars are pushed onto the pit cage. Above ground, the double trestle winding tower of shaft XII can be seen with the pit cage and the surrounding area. The coal is transported further along a rail system for sorting, and in the sorting hall the rock is sorted out. Finally, the coal has to be washed and sorted by size.