Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex

Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Essen

UNESCO World Heritage Site
Zollverein Coal Mine, shaft 12
Location	Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Criteria	Cultural: (ii), (iii)
Reference	975
Inscription	2001 (25th Session)
Website	www.zollverein.de
Coordinates	51°29′29″N 07°02′46″E / 51.49139°N 7.04611°E / 51.49139; 7.04611
Location of Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex in Germany Show map of Germany Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex (North Rhine-Westphalia) Show map of North Rhine-Westphalia

200m
220yds

Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex

  

Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex, Essen

The Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex (German Zeche Zollverein) 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 December 23, 1986. For decades, starting in the late 1950s, the two parts of the site, Zollverein Coal Mine and Zollverein Coking Plant (erected 1957–1961, closed on June 30, 1993), 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".^[1]

Because of its architecture and testimony to the development of heavy industry in Europe, the industrial complex was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List on December 14, 2001, and is one of the anchor points of the European Route of Industrial Heritage.^[2][1]