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"The Eiffel Tower of the Ruhrgebiet"
Saturday, July 07, 2001; posted by Paris
A massive thunderstorm came and caused us to seek shelter from the rain and lightening. We decided to go visit a gallery that has been built inside an old gasometer. Unfortunately it was closed to the public this afternoon, so we went to the former Zollverein Shaft XII mining site. Operations began in 1932 using the most advanced technology available to heavy industry - many of the workforce duties were replaced by machinery. This mine yielded 12,000 tons of coal per day (four times the average mine of its day) and was Europe's leading producer of coal until its closure in 1986.
The architects Fritz Schupp and Martin Kremmer were influenced by the Bauhaus movement and designed this facility with those principles of harmonic symmetry and geometry. You can see this in the pictures below.
A popular restaurant, the Casino Zollverein, occupies a former compression chamber. The facility also houses the Design Zentrum Nordhein Westfalen, one of the world's largest display facilities for contemporary design.
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The gasometer gallery which was closed.
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Entrance to the park and galleries.
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The entrance to the main design gallery.
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Buildings in the back.
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Old machinery out on display.
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A broad view of the facilities.
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Mining machinery parts.
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Rail line behind the mine operations.
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Rail line under the building.
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