Nothing changed the surface of the country in Germany as much as the industry did. Former textile manufactories, coal mines, coking plants, ironworks plants, or former harbors from the Gründerzeit ("founders' period": era at the end of the 19th century) changed to museums and opened doors to visitors. Industry parks like Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord evolved, providing a deep insight into the industrialized economy of the region. Some industry plants are still changing the face of the country today, e.g. the opencast mining of brown coal at Garzweiler. All are witnesses of a significant change from the highly industrialized society which started with the industrial revolution at the end of the 18th century to today.
Industrial Plants
Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord
Former railroad trail passing through the industry plant. The industry park Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord is completely open to visitors at any time. The core of the dormer industry plant is a abandoned ironworks plant in Duisburg-Meiderich. The furnace can be mounted up to a height of 70m. The plant is used a lot for recreation, e.g. free-climbing. Photographers take advantage of the wide area with numerous interesting spots for photo shootings.
Link: Wikipedia
Photo:
Titel: LaPaDu
Location: Emscherstraße 72, 47137 Duisburg, Germany
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens: EF15-35mm f/4L IS USM
Filter: B+W ND3.0 1000x
Date: July 8, 2019, 6:42pm
Exif: 16mm, f/8, ISO 250, 6 sec.
© Christian Twehues
Blast Furnace Plant Phoenix-West, Dortmund
In 1839 the industrialist Hermann Diedrich Piepenstock founded a ironworks plant in the Eastern part of Dortmund in Hörde. The plant was later named Phoenix-Ost. In 1852 the company Hoerder Bergwerks- und Hütten-Verein was counded and soon afer began the construction of the first blast furnace plant in the Ruhrgebiet, today known as Phoenix-West. The plant produced pig iron (raw iron), a preliminary production stage for the final steel production. In 1856 the plant produced 22,750 tons of pig iron in four furnaces and employed 1.200 workers. With the help of new production methods and additional facilities like a rolling mill for rail, sleepers, semi-finished goods, the production volume could be extended in 1886 to 106.500 tons per year. Further modernization and the capacity of 5,000 workers led to a production increase in 1900 to 330.000 tons pig iron per year. Additional 1,800 pit men were working in the coal mines Schleswig and Holstein, part of the group, to extract the coal required for the iron production. In 1906 the owner Hörder Verein merged with the group Phoenix AG für Bergbau und Hüttenbetrieb. At that time the plant produced half a million tons of pig iron per year with 6,200 employees. The plant was one of the biggest montan companies in Germany. In Phoenix-West blast furnaces and coking plants were run, producing the pig iron, which was further developed to steel and metal in the steel mills of Phoenix-Ost. Until World War II seven furnaces were active, after the war five. Due to the structural crisis of German industry in the Eighties they reduced to 3 and later in the Nineties to one furnace only. Phoenix-West was the fastest iron plant in Europe, finally closed in 1998.
Link: Wikipedia
Photo:
Title: Phoenix-West
Location: Carlo-Schmid-Allee 3, 44263 Dortmund, Germany
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens: EF16-35mm f/4L IS USM
Date: August 3, 2019, 5:01pm
Exif: 32mm, f/8, ISO 100, 1/320 sec.
© Christian Twehues
Coking Plant Hansa, Dortmund
Former changing house of the coking plant Hansa in Dortmund, Germany. The plant was founded 1927. In peak times more than 1.100 employees were working at more than 300 coke ovens. The coking plant processes daily around 7.000 tons to zu 5.400 tons of coke, which was required in the ironworks plants in the region Ruhrgebiet to produce steel. Every day around 2m cubic meter raw gas were co-produced during the coking process. The gas was partially used by the ironworks plants, nut mainly injected into the gas net of Ruhrgas. The coking plant closed business in December 1992. 1998 the premises were declared listed monument. The plant is nowadays part of the Route Industriekultur and can be visited. Highlight of the visiting tour is the compressor hall, which was - lucky me - closed when I was visiting.
Link: Wikipedia
Photo:
Title: Kaue
Location: Emscherallee 11, 44369 Dortmund
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens: EF16-35mm f/4L IS USM
Date: July 13, 2019, 4:15pm
Exif: 16mm, f/8, ISO 10000, 1/80 sec.
© Christian Twehues
Henrichshütte, Hattingen
The ironworks plant Henrichshütte in Hattingen was founded in 1854. The high-grade steel produced here was famous. The plant was closed in 1987. Wide areas like the gasometer or the symbolic building of the basic oxygen steelmaking plant were destroyed in the years after closure. The cost to maintain the whole plant were simply to high. The remaining buildings were converted into a museum and are open to visitors. The plant is part of the Route Industriekultur.
Link: Wikipedia
Photo:
Title: Henrichshütte Hattingen
Location: Werksstraße 31-33, 45527 Hattingen
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens: EF16-35mm f/4L IS USM
Dagte: May 29, 2019, 8:41pm
Exif: 16mm, f/8, ISO 160, 1/60 sec. +1/3
© Christian Twehues
Duisburg Inner Harbor
The origin of the harbor in Duisburg are in medieval times. At this time river Rhine was passing by Duisburg, floating through the area where the harbor is located today. Around 1000 the river changed the flow and passed Duisburg at a distance. During the following 400 years a branch still connected Duisburg with to the important river. Later Duisburg was disconnected from the river and lost its position as prosperous trading town and decayed over time to a village. It was in the 19th century only that the connection to river Rhine was reconstructed and Duisburg regained its position. Due to the exploding mining and steel industry in the Ruhrgebiet, first timber industry, later more and more flour mills settled in the harbor, to support the growing poblation of the Ruhrgebiet with food. It was due to the mills that the harbor got the nick name "Ruhrgebiet's breadbasket". After the flour mills disappeared in the 1960ties the harbor again lost its significance and was finally only used for warehouses and storgae. End of the Eighties the city of Duisburg started conversion. Duisburg Inner Harbor is today location of office building, parking lots, restaurants, bars, and various museums. The harbor is a popular and frequently used destination of visitors.
Link: Wikipedia
Photo:
Title: Duisburg Innenhafen
Location: Schifferstraße, 47059 Duisburg
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens: EF16-35mm f/4 IS USM
Filter: B+W ND3.0 1000x
Date: July 8, 2019, 1:07pm
Exif: 16mm, f/8, ISO 100, 3.2 sec.
© Christian Twehues
Garzweiler Surface Mine
Brown coal was mined in the region Garzweiler already in the 19th century. The industrialized winning of coal by Rheinbraun, a affiliate of RWE, a major German energy company, started in 1983. Garzweiler is a area of 66 km². In 1995 the government of Northrhine-Westfalia approved the plan to extend the opencast mining to a second region, called Garzweiler II, a 48 km² area in the west of Garzweiler I. The project was discussed very controversially by the population and political parties over several election periods, the approval however was never withdrawn. In 2006 the extension was kicked off by Rheinbraun, despite strong protesting by the population. The brown coal from the mine is predominantly used in the power stations around to produce electricity. After the nuclear disaster of Fukushima the public opinion in Germany changed. In 2013 the German government initiated a program called Energiewende (lit. change of energy), gradually decreasing nuclear power and power stations supplied by coal, and pushing renewable sources of energy like sun, wind, water. In 2016 it was decided to reduce the size of Garzweiler II. Stiull: The Autobahn A44 and A61 had to be fully detoured and reconstructed at a different location. 7.600 residents of 12 villages hd to be resettled to newly formed villages. The opencast mine is being refilled after te brown coal is mined. It is still under discussion what the purpose of this newly created region will be, once the mine is closed in 2035. Some suggest to create a huge lake for recreation, others raised the idea to create a huge pumped storage hydro power station, again others propose to build a airport for the region. Decision pending.
Link: Wikipedia
Photo:
Title: Garzweiler
Location: L241, 41363 Jüchen
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens: EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Date: October 18, 2014, 12:12 noon
Exif: 24mm, f/8,0, ISO 100, 1/640 sec.
© Christian Twehues
Textile Manufactory Cromford, Ratingen
Mid of the 18th century the cotton market was booming, The demand for fine cotton yarn from Cromford, England was very high. The English manufacturers kept the production process, tools, and machines secret and built up a monopoly in Europe. In 1783 Johann Gottfried Brügelmann from Wuppertal, Germany, managed to produce the same quality like the yarn from Cromford. He founded a textile manufactory in Ratingen, the first of its kind on European mainland. The enterprise flourished over one century and wss passed from father to son. In the second half of the 19th century competition had grown, sales went down and in 1890 the manufatory was in financial jeopardy. The company was sold various times and finally in 1977 dissolved. On the premises of the former textile manufactory an elegant residential area was constructed. Only the manor and the originla core of the factory were preserved. The plant was converted into a museum and is open to visits. It provides a very good insight into the incredible working and life conditions of the textile workers in the 18th and 19th century.
Link: Wikipedia
Photo:
Title: Textilfabrik Cromford
Location: Cromforder Allee 24, 40878 Ratingen
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens: EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Date: March 22, 2015, 3:50pm
Exif: 80mm, f/8,0, ISO 2500, 1/60 sec.
© Christian Twehues
Gallery Industry Plants
