Zollverein mine

The start of Zollverein coal mine was an innovation in itself. It was created in 1830 and was based on the idea of linking several mines into one large one to produce more coal per hour. This idea was so effective that Zollverein became the largest coal mine in the world and after WWII was, in fact, the industrial heart of Europe. When steel and coal came to be mined and produced better and cheaper outside Germany, Zollverein was closed down.
Zollverein is a big complex, as large as Essen. To leave this area unused would be dangerous for the whole region. During the International Architecture exhibition, the idea came about to use former industrial sites as industrial heritage - for exhibitions, tourism, or family trips. You have to remember that these sites were off public sight and were never visited. There was hence a lot of people interested in incorporating these spaces into the public sphere of the city. Rem Koolhaas, a well-known Dutch architect, created a plan to start using Zollverein. It was gradually rebuilt, with investment of more than 100 million Euros. Because a lot of the soil on the site was polluted, it had to be taken away, a process which alone took years to be completed. In 2010 when we held the European Capital of Culture title, the regional Ruhr Museum reopened and attracted tens of thousands more visitors than we expected. Zollverein used to welcome around 1 million visitors a year, this year, which is still not over, 2 million visitors went to see it. You really see the public interest, and this is the actual source of re-generation of the complex. If the public was not interested, we would have no chance to renovate the large spaces, no matter how big the investments.

CultureFighter

Bernd Fesel

Related fights

More fights by Bernd Fesel

Bernd Fesel