The Zollverein World Heritage Site
What is Zollverein?
The Zollverein World Heritage Site – once “the most beautiful colliery in the world” – today the most renowned industrial monument and centre of the creative industry in the Ruhr area.
100 hectares in the north of Essen, Shaft XII, Shaft 1/2/8 and Zollverein Coking Plant. The first shaft was constructed in 1847, the last coal was produced in 1986, the coking plant was closed down in 1993. Buildings and facilities have been officially under a preservation order since 2000. In 2001, the site was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Preservation through conversion is the motto. Variety characterises the offer. History, culture, creativity, events, gastronomy, leisure, this is what Zollverein offers to its one million visitors per year.
Zollverein’s History and Development
Zollverein, with its four out of five maintained shafts, underground facilities, the central coking plant, stockpiles, traffic facilities and workers’ housing estates, in short: the “Industrial Cultural Landscape of Zollverein”, is exemplary for the coal-producing and processing industry of the 19th and 20th century. Zollverein is the only facility worldwide, which still illustrates the complexity of this industry today. Zollverein is therefore the symbol for the industrial culture in the Ruhr area, the German region, which is to the present day characterised by the social, economic, aesthetic, and industrial history of the era of coal and steel.
“Black gold”, the largest coal reserves along the river Ruhr, which were proved by drills, were in the 19th century considered as the energy source of the future. In 1847, industrial pioneer Franz Haniel (1779-1868) from Duisburg purchased 13 connected claims, sunk the first shaft, and called the developing coalmine “Zollverein” after the free trade zone comprising 14 German states that came into effect in 1834. The name said it all, because “Deutscher Zollverein” was synonymous with economic progress and prosperity. And indeed, Zollverein grew continuously: whilst in the first year of coal production, in 1851, 13,000 t of coal were produced with 256 miners, the number of employees had increased tenfold by 1890 and the output had literally exploded 75-fold to one million tons.
Underground, this meant the continuous development of new mining fields, which necessitated the sinking of new shafts and the construction of corresponding shaft facilities above ground. That way, Zollverein grew until the outbreak of the First World War to comprise four independent pits with ten shafts in total.
In order to be able to further modernize the facilities, the Haniel Family, who had so far been in the exclusive possession of Zollverein, formed an interest group with Phoenix AG für Bergbau und Hüttenbetrieb. In 1926, Zollverein was finally integrated into the newly founded “Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG“. In that way, the financial means for the realisation of a central shaft facility were secured.
Rationalisation was the keyword. The merger of production and processing of all coal produced at Zollverein in one shaft facility promised a capacity increase to the fourfold of an average colliery. From 1927, young architects Martin Kremmer and Fritz Schupp designed the new central shaft XII according to the principle of “form follows function“: The optimal processes of coal production and processing were the defining parameters for the arrangement of the buildings above ground. The principle was successful. When Shaft XII was put into operation on February 1, 1932, all other hoisting shafts at Zollverein were closed down. With a daily coal output of 12,000 t, Zollverein had become the largest colliery in the Ruhr area. Compared to the early days, the coalmine produced an output per day, which had been the yield of a whole year in 1851.
Exceptional Architecture
However, Zollverein was not just the largest colliery in the Ruhr area, it was also considered to be “the most beautiful coalmine in the world”. Constructed in the style of New Objectivity, strict symmetry and geometry dominate the single building blocks as well as their arrangement on the site. The buildings are aligned along parallel lines and form rectangular crossing axes. The 55-metre high four-post winding tower rises in the middle of the first axis, the production axis. The 106-metre high chimney of the boiler house, which was demolished in 1981, marked the end of the second axis, the supply axis. The design vocabulary is factual, reduced, aesthetic; uniform red brick facades with steel frameworks characterise the appearance. Shaft XII is understood as an entity, as a monument. The facility thus corresponded to the need for representation of its owner, Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG, which was regarded as the largest steel group in Europe.
From 1957 to 1961, the Zollverein Coking Plant was constructed west of Shaft XII in the same style – again according to plans by Fritz Schupp – and put into operation on September 12, 1961. The spatial and architectural closeness to Shaft XII also symbolises the functional closeness. The processing of the coal produced at the central shaft facility in a central coking plant corresponds to the principle of rationalisation. The coking plant, too, achieved superlative output capacities. After its expansion in the 1970s, the coking plant “baked” 10,000 tons of coal into 8,600 tons of coke in 304 ovens at 1,250 degrees on the “black side” every day. The thereby produced gases were processed into ammoniac, crude benzene and tar on the “white side”. In peak periods the coking plant employed 1,000 people.
Preservation through Conversion
The end of the coal and steel era did not spare Zollverein. Despite all rationalisation efforts, the largest coalmine in the Ruhr area could not withstand the cost pressure of foreign coal production. On December 23, 1986, the last shift went underground after 135 years of mining operation. With it the last of Essen’s collieries shut down. The coking plant followed on June 30, 1993.
With the end of the mining and coking operation the question of the future orientation arouse. In many places, disused industrial plants had to give way to new uses such as industrial or residential estates. For Zollverein, too, Ruhrkohle AG, owner of Zollverein since 1969, applied for a demolition permit, but the efforts to preserve the facilities with their exceptional architecture as well as economic and socio-historical meaning for the whole region were stronger. A few days before the last shift, on December 16, 1986, Zollverein was entered on Essen’s list of protected monuments through ministerial decree from Düsseldorf.
Preservation through conversion was the principle. In 1987, the idea was already developed to use Zollverein for cultural purposes in order to maintain a catalyst for the structural change. The halls were restored in accordance to the specifications for monument preservation, new users, primarily artists and creative people, moved in. Cultural events and the Heritage Trail attracted more and more visitors to the once “Forbidden City”. The coking plant, too, was opened for the public – initially in 1999 for the final presentation of the International Building Exhibition Emscher Park “Sun, Moon and Stars”, which dealt with the conversion and new use of former industrial plants.
Zollverein today
The inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List on December 14, 2001 sealed the structural change, which had been accomplished and had to be continued at Zollverein. A monument has to be unique and authentic in order to be included in the World Heritage List, but it must also be sensibly integrated into public life. The master plan developed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas in 2001/2002 for Zollverein consistently implements this requirement. The refurbishment of halls and open areas is proceeded, new users are looked for. The coal washing plant, the largest above ground building at Zollverein, was thoroughly converted from 2003-2006. The façades and machinery were renovated, modern technology and supply facilities were installed. Finally, the gangway was added: a 58-metre long freestanding escalator leads directly to the 24-metre level. Here, the guests arrive in the new Ruhr Visitor Centre (RUHR.VISITORCENTER), the “Portal of Industrial Heritage” and the new Heritage Trail. The Ruhr Museum is opened on January 10th 2010, it offers the Ruhr Metropolis a showcase for its history, memory and present.
The SANAA Building completed in 2006 is the first new build, which was realised at the World Heritage site in 50 years. An architectural masterpiece by Japanese practice SANAA; the grey cube, both stately and airily light, offers interesting views and insights in the Heritage site through 134 windows seemingly arranged at random. The newly laid out designstadt at the neighbouring Shaft 1/2/8 grows. The building designstadt N°1 provides offices and studios for start-ups. Further buildings will follow. Zollverein Park is a local recreation area for the residents and visitors to the World Heritage site; on former stockpiles it offers room for rare plant and animal life. Whether calm and relaxation or games and fun, for the young or the old, everybody is able to find their favourite place on the 100-hectare grounds.
Since then, about 1,000 jobs have been created at Zollverein. Zollverein has become the creative centre of the Ruhr area. Almost one million visitors come to Zollverein every year to explore the largest industrial monument of the coal-mining district. The trend is rising. Zollverein has accomplished the structural change and is aware of both its industrial heritage as well as its responsibility for the future.
Zollverein – Diversity for all Occasions
Ruhr Museum – Following the Traces of a Chequered Region
As of January 10, 2010, the new Ruhr Museum at Zollverein presents the exciting history of the Ruhr metropolis. It tells the stories of early industrial pioneers and their inventions, of work underground and life in the Industrial Age, of wars and reconstruction, of environmental destruction and the blue sky above the river Ruhr. However, it also tells the long story before industrialisation: mammoths, rhinoceroses and hand axes in the natural landscape, the Romans on the Rhine, monasteries, castles and towns of the Middle Ages, humanists, reformers, philosophers of the Enlightenment, and finally the Prussians in the Ruhr area. The museum also presents today’s Ruhr area: myth and reality, industrial culture and Ruhr metropolis.
The museum building could hardly be more spectacular: the former coal washing plant of the Zollverein Colliery Shaft XII impresses by its sheer size and architecture: The processing, storage and distribution of coal have left behind very different spaces: huge halls with cyclops-like machines, massive windowless concrete bunkers, long suites of rooms of almost one hundred metres length: A spatial experience of a special kind.
The exhibition architecture, which was designed by the renowned Stuttgart-based architectural practice HG Merz, integrates the exhibition’s contents and subjects into the existing spatial structure:
The panorama of the Ruhr area’s present on the large machine platform, the cultural memory of the region in the former coal bunkers, and the history of industrialisation along the long transport axes of coal distribution. The modern design with numerous interactive media merges the natural and cultural history into an integrated concept in order to document the Ruhr area as originally commodity-dependent and energy-producing region.
RUHR.VISITORCENTER: Immerse in the Attractions of the Ruhr Area
The Visitor Centre is the first point of contact for all visitors to Zollverein and starting point of many guided tours on history, change, art, and architecture at Zollverein. The way to the RUHR.VISITORCENTER leads across the 58-metre long gangway – Germany’s longest freestanding escalator, which transports the visitors to the interior of the coal washing plant. In time for the Capital of Culture Year 2010, the presentation of the tourist offers was extended to cover the entire region: Where can I experience something? Which events take place where? Where can I get tickets and how do I get there? An electronic calendar presents all current events – tickets can be purchased on the spot. The World Heritage site, too, can be explored individually: the interactive model “What is Zollverein?” opens the virtual gates of the coalmine and coking plant.
Portal of Industrial Heritage: Future with History
Both former round thickeners in the coal washing plant now accommodate the Portal of Industrial Heritage, which connects past and future, identity and vision in the third-largest conurbation in Europe. The region is staged with sounds and images, presenting the rich panorama of industrial heritage in North Rhine-Westphalia with its background, present and future. Visitors discover the 25 anchor points of the Route of Industrial Heritage in the Ruhr metropolis as well as industrial routes, industrial museums and original locations throughout North Rhine-Westphalia.
A special highlight is the panorama film “360 degrees Ruhr”. Like in a cinema, but literally encompassed by the film, the audience is immersed: Surrounded by birch forests, on the Rhine, in the research laboratory, in the concert house, or in the fan block they experience the various facets of the region and are always right in the middle of it.
Zollverein Heritage Trail: Coalmine in Motion
The route through the authentically preserved facilities of the once largest and most modern coalmine, Zollverein Shaft XII, has also been redesigned from scratch and recently opened at the beginning of December 2009. Along huge machines and conveyor belts, past coal cars, the visitors follow the “path of the coal” from its production to loading. At first sight, the facilities, which were shut down in 1986, look unchanged. By means of the latest media technology it has now been possible to breathe new life into drum screens, bucket elevators and jig separators. Not just sounds and movements add new dynamics to the silent coalmine, by means of 3D projections visitors can see what happens behind the cladding of a machine. They gain an insight in complex technical processes, which once set the rhythm at the world’s largest colliery.
RUHR.VISITORCENTER is open daily from 10.00 am to 8.00 pm (it is closed on December 24th and 31st)
Portal of Industrial Heritage can be visited daily from 10.00 am to 7.00 pm. Admission fee to Portal of Industrial Heritage: 2 Euros
Zollverein Park: Tamed Wilderness for Relaxation
Where the waste material of coal production was once stored, botanical rarities and animals can now be discovered. Nature has recaptured its space on the former stockpiles. The layout of Zollverein Park takes account of this development: respectfully and cautiously the existing landscape was designed and complemented, a tamed wilderness has been created. The park continues to change in a natural way, continuous tending and gentle pruning help to form it.
New paths were laid out, which open up and connect the area; a 3.5 km long ring promenade for cyclists, joggers and nature lovers surrounds the park. At central points on the site, pavilions are realised as art venue and rest area. Playing venues, which are especially popular with families and children, provide varied entertainment.
Discreet, extensive, natural lighting illustrates the dimensions of Zollverein and its special effect at night. Visitors of evening events are received in a pleasant atmosphere.
3D models of Zollverein additionally facilitate orientation on the site. Placed at the entrances and distinct points, they depict the World Heritage site. Thus visitors can easily orientate themselves and find their way to their destination.
Playing venues: Marvel, Discover, Explore
Designed by children and adolescents from the north of Essen, with their own ideas, with their own hands, assisted by landscape planners and artists with advice and assistance – these are the playing venues at Zollverein. They were realised in the scope of the “Wilderness on the Doorstep” project. The venues are as varied as the needs of children and adolescents.
The dreamy ones love fairytales and fancy dress. The Labyrinth of Hidden Treasures at the signal tower garden is the right place for them. Here they can wonder at the fairytale of the little man, who leaves his coal seam underground to get to know the humans. On the stage in the coal garden in the industrial forest north of the coking plant, they can let their creativity flow, sing, dance, perform tricks or little plays.
The explorers search for answers. In the signal tower garden at Shaft XII, they can watch plants grow, examine small animals with the magnifying glass, experience seasonal changes. Marvel, discover, understand. 20 square elevated flowerbeds have been cultivated by children from local schools. They serve as “green” classroom in the open.
The sporty and energetic ones need exercise and a challenge. Whether playing beach soccer on the sand pitch at the coking plant, or soccer golf, a mixture of soccer and crazy golf, or at the climbing wall in the coal garden: the venues are a recipe for fun – where one can come across a few friends.
Zollverein Concerts
Zollverein has already built up a reputation as a venue for top-class concerts. Since 1997, the concert series of Zollverein Foundation takes places regularly at various venues on the colliery and coking plant site. With world-famous musicians such as pianist Alfred Brendel, saxophonist Jan Garbarek, violin virtuoso Frank Peter Zimmermann or opera singer Waltraud Meier, Zollverein was able to distinguish itself as exceptional venue for high-quality chamber music throughout Germany. Another regular guest of the successful Zollverein concerts is the internationally respected WDR Big Band Cologne, which always presents an outstanding jazz experience with superb soloists. Zollverein concerts are financed from sponsoring and donations; especially the booster club “Friends of Zollverein” is an important material and intellectual supporter of the concert series. The concerts contribute to increasing the national and international renown of Zollverein and attract a broad audience from home and abroad to the World Heritage site.
Zollverein – Impressive Location for Events
The industrial monument and UNESCO World Heritage site of Zollverein, which is renowned as dynamic centre of the creative industry, diversified cultural centre and popular tourist destination, offers an impressive backdrop for extraordinary and unforgettable events. A total event area of 14,000 square metres offers the perfect setting for every occasion: congresses, meetings, company events, product presentations, incentives, or private celebrations such as jubilees and wedding parties. A variety of rooms, halls and buildings ranging from small studios with conference technology to spacious trade fair and exhibition halls is available. In 2009, the Zollverein World Heritage Site was awarded the Conga Award as “Best Event Location in Germany”.
