Essen
Kokerei Zollverein Essen
The mine as a giant machine and representative building (1847–1986)
German industrial and economic history was written from the Zollverein: in 1847 the entrepreneur and industrial pioneer Franz Haniel had the first shaft sunk in the north of Essen. While 13,000 tons of coal were mined in the first year of hard coal mining in 1851, by 1890 it was already one million tons. The bituminous coal reserves in the north of Essen were large, so that in addition to the founding pit 1/2/8 in the following 60 years with the pits 3/7/10, 4/5/11 and 6/9 on the Zollverein pit, three other plants with a total of eight shafts were built.
Structural Change: Industrial Culture and Tourism (2001–2020)
The conversion and expansion of the coal washery into an exhibition space for the Ruhr Museum and Ruhr Visitor Center was implemented by 2010 as the first structural infrastructure measure. Since then, 1.5 million tourists have visited the Zollverein World Heritage Site every year (2011-2019).
Image photography
By Viktor Macha in 2005.
Plant facts and figures
The plant have an annual capacity of 3600000 tons.
The following processes are conducted in the plant:
- Coke plant
This plant produces the following type of products:
- Coal&Iron&Minerals
Full description
Once the largest coking plant worldwide was constructed between 1957 – 1961 by german architect Fritz Schupp.
During the decades maximum coke production increased up to respectful 10.500 tons per day. However due to inconvenient situation of the heavy industry sector in 90´s the plant was shutdown for good in 1993.
In 2001 the whole complex was listed as one of UNESCO heritage sites.