1. Entrance Coal Mine / Main Courtyard

Hello, how nice to see you here! Let’s start our tour. We will begin right here, in front of the gate that allows the UNESCO World Heritage Zollverein site to present its impressive monumentality and where we find ourselves in a kind of interspace of history, as Harald Fritz once phrased it: “No trace of hard work, dust or noise. Two Gate Houses frame the gate in the Coal Mine’s wall and steer our gaze towards the Main Courtyard. This view has existed since 1932 and has been conserved until today: The coal mine wall, lime tree avenue, cobbled streets and lawns were planned by architects Fritz Schupp and Martin Kremmer in the style of New Objectivity. The cubist sculpture Zollverein presents itself on the green lawn. Machines are seen, workers are not – they remained invisible to the visitors. Coal trains rode concealed behind high walls. Up in the high pit head frame, the pulley wheels moved silently. They still turn today to take those miners down into the pit who are in charge of water management today.”

And even today, most of the many workers at Zollverein remain almost invisible. That is why we will not only come across the works of several artists or the nature that surrounds us like a self-narrating story, but also some interesting characters whose experiences, ideas and both personal and passionate commitment make this location into such a vibrant space for encounters. Without their charm, neither the past nor future history of the World Heritage Site Zollverein could be told nearly as affectingly. So now let’s step behind the first wall and discover the first works together.