The Zollverein Coal Mine and the beginning of coal mining in the Ruhr Valley, Germany

May 14, 2020

Foto em preto e branco da mina de carvão Zollverein

The Ruhr Valley in western Germany, an important industrial region in Europe, was dominated by coal mines and steel mills from the second half of the 19th century until the end of the 20th century. Over the decades, the region became an agglomeration with many different industrial industries.

A mining in the region began in the southern part of the Ruhr Valley, where coal is exposed in the upper carboniferous outcrops. In the 13th century, coal was mined in shallow shafts and later in primitive galleries. The use of shafts began in the 18th century, even before the invention of the steam engine, which enabled pumping in coal mines, thus making it possible to mine at greater depths.

From then on, the Ruhr Valley went from a rural area to the famous industrial region with its coal mines, with the development of railways and steamboats, as well as the establishment of steel mills in the second half of the 19th century. At the same time, coal mining gradually moved northwards into the central part of the Emscher River floodplain, already reaching the Lippe River in the north of the Ruhr Valley.

For almost 200 years, the Ruhr Valley has remained the industrial centre of Germany and one of the most important industrial regions in the world.

The history of Zollverein is closely linked to the name Franz Haniel. The metallurgist and owner of the Ruhrort coal mine acquired the first mineral rights on the site in 1840, and the most powerful ore bodies were found in the Zollverein area.

The entrepreneur was also a partner in the company Jacobi, Haniel & Huyssen, which later became Gutehoffnungshütte, the largest machinery and plant manufacturer in Europe. The company produced almost everything that industrialisation needed: steam engines and ships, locomotives, rails and bridges. And for that it needed coal. In 1847, Mr Franz Haniel and his eight children were the sole owners of the area, which totalled 13.8 square kilometres and which they called "Zollverein". The Haniel family remained the sole owners of the Zollverein until 1920.

Mineiros em exploração subterrânea, por volta de 1970 na Zeche Zollverein

In 1920, the Haniel family from Zollverein formed a business group with Phönix AG with a focus on mining and metallurgy. In 1926, Phoenix AG, and with it Zollverein, was incorporated into the largest mining group in Europe at the time, Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG.

The entire Zollverein mine complex was modernised in the 1920s. The highlight of the planned refurbishment is the new central shaft, which was designed by architects Fritz Schupp and Martin Kremmer, who would later become Germany's most important industrial architects.

After 1920, the mechanisation of mining and especially the demand for energy and steel just before the Second World War led to the largest coal production in the history of the Ruhr Valley in 1939 (130 Mt) and a total number of 151 coal mines in the region. Until the 1950s, hard coal remained the dominant source of energy and also became an important raw material for the chemical industry. After the Second World War, coal production increased rapidly and reached its peak in 1956 (124 Mt).

Due to competition from oil and gas in the energy market, coal mining in the Ruhr district shrank sharply from the early 1960s onwards. In 1964 alone, 13 mines were closed in Essen, and the number of miners fell from 54,413 (1958) to 9,771 (1978).

Um canhão, uma pintura e uma figura equestre podem ser reconhecidos. Outras exposições podem ser encontradas em vitrines.

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ZECHE ZOLLVEREIN MINE IN WARS

As well as being a fundamental raw material for the world economy from the First Industrial Revolution onwards, when the steam engine began to be used in manufacturing production, coal was also of great importance during the great wars.

Coal will have a place in Germany's energy matrix, especially in relation to the country's military bases, and will play a key role both in the period leading up to the outbreak of the First and Second World Wars and during the course of the conflict, in which obtaining and maintaining sources of the resource will prove to be high priority objectives.

During the wars, the production of coal from the Zollverein mine stood out mainly as a source for the production of steel, weapons and ammunition, being an essential raw material in both the energy and steel industries.

In 1914, on the eve of the First World War, Zeche Zollverein expanded its structures by creating new extraction shafts and new coking plants. In that year, coal production reached around 2.5 million tonnes.

THE CLOSURE OF THE ZECHE ZOLLVEREIN MINE

The Zollverein mine operated until 1986, producing around 240 million tonnes of hard coal. To reach this milestone, mining was carried out using the longwall method and was operated by more than 8,000 miners day and night in extreme conditions.

The closure of the Zollverein Mine involved a major effort to decommission machinery and equipment. One of the main challenges of the mine closure involved the drainage plan for the area and the extension of the pumping stations.

Since the mid-19th century, the Longwall underground mining method has been introduced in the Ruhr district. This method is suitable for mining bodies with a large lateral extension and a constant thickness.

The longwall is one of the safest methods for mining at great depths and its main advantage is that it allows for controlled subsidence, which can be accurately pre-assessed in terms of magnitude, effects and duration. The application of this method is the reason for the extensive subsidence observed in the Ruhr Valley.

The mining of more than 200 million tonnes of coal in Zollverein has caused the land surface level to drop by more than 25 metres in some areas. In addition, Zollverein is situated in the Emscher area, where many marshy areas already existed before mining began, and the subsidence caused by mining has significantly worsened these water flows.

A central pumping station is therefore in operation approximately 1,000 metres underground, pumping around 1,200 m³ of water from the mine to the surface every day. This process occurs in a similar way in several other Ruhr Valley mines; approximately 38 per cent of the Emscher catchment and 15 per cent of the Lippe catch ment are artificially drained. If the pumping stations in these areas were closed, most of the Ruhr district would be flooded

At Zollverein, the future use of the space was discussed at length with society, which decided to and conserve the site in order to maintain the installations that document the production process how the miners worked and lived.

Today, the architectural ensemble built at the Zeche Zollverein Mine demonstrates that the transition from industry to culture has been masterfully accomplished. After being listed, the entire mine closure was transformed into a large stage that keeps the history of mining and the development of industrial architecture alive.

The cultural routes, the architectural ensembles and all the history portrayed within the Zollverein Mine Complex can be found in our article "Zollverein coal mine complex: the transformation of a mine closure into a major architectural ensemble", where we tell you a little about the incredible cultural experience offered at the site.

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