Sketches

Wednesday 10 May 2017

Zeche Zollverein

Before we visited the opera "Einstein on the Beach" in Dortmund, my son and I visited the old coal mines of Zeche Zollverein, near Essen.
This coal mine has stopped for years, and is now preserved as monument to Industrial Architecture.
It's fantastic, especially the part where they used to make cokes. This scene.
The coal would be heated for hours to 180 degrees in the closets on the right, and then dumped into the water and transported.
It reminds me of my youth: there was a huge coalmine around the corner, literally (Staatsmijn Emma), and I still remember that I could see the same kind of cokes-furnaces from the bridge crossing the railroads on the Akerstraat.

2 comments:

Michael Lukyniuk said...

A testament to the past. My first reaction was why didn't they demolish this structure and clean the environmental damage to the area. But I guess it's valuable to have these strong reminders of the past. Good sketch, especially the perspective.

Rene Fijten said...

I live in a former coalmining region. Everything about that is gone. There was a huge mine about 500 meters from my house, I still remember the coaltrains, rolling shaftwheels, smoke and soot. There is nothing left except a 100 meter long brick wall.
My memories lack location.
It's not like they should keep all factories, but history forms part of who we are, trying to erase it totally is neglecting our personality.