World Heritage Identification Number: 975
World Heritage since: 2001
Category: Cultural Heritage
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇩🇪 Germany
Continent: Europe
UNESCO World Region: Europe and North America
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Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex: A Testimony to Industrial Evolution and Decline
The Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex, located in the city of Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, stands as a significant testament to the evolution and eventual decline of the coal mining industry over the past 150 years. Inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001, this expansive industrial complex offers a unique insight into the history, architecture, and technology that shaped the industry during its heyday.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
The Zollverein industrial complex in Land Nordrhein-Westfalen consists of the complete infrastructure of a historical coal-mining site, with some 20th-century buildings of outstanding architectural merit. It constitutes remarkable material evidence of the evolution and decline of an essential industry over the past 150 years.
UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site
Criterion (ii): The Zollverein XII Coal Mine Industrial Complex is an exceptional industrial monument by virtue of the fact that its buildings are outstanding examples of the application of the design concepts of the Modern Movement in architecture in a wholly industrial context.
Criterion (iii): The technological and other structures of Zollverein XII is representative of a crucial period in the development of traditional heavy industries in Europe, when sympathetic and positive use was made of architectural designs of outstanding quality.
Encyclopedia Record: Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex
The Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex is a large former industrial site in the city of Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The first coal mine on the premises was founded in 1847, and mining activities took place from 1851 until 23 December 1986. For decades, starting in the late 1950s, the two parts of the site, Zollverein Coal Mine and Zollverein Coking Plant, ranked among the largest of their kinds in Europe. Shaft 12, built in the New Objectivity style, was opened in 1932 and is considered an architectural and technical masterpiece, earning it a reputation as the "most beautiful coal mine in the world".Additional Site Details
Area: Not available
(iii) — Unique or exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition
Coordinates: 51.49138889 , 7.046111111
Image
© Thomas Wolf, www.foto-tw.de, CC BY-SA 3.0 de Resized from original. (This derivative is under the same CC BY-SA license.)
