Show transcript Play Pause

Vorderansicht der Maschinenhalle

Cathedral of Industrial Culture

The machine hall at the Zollern colliery is an object of outstanding quality in many respects: built in 1902/1903 to designs by Berlin architect Möhring, the steel truss structure represents the dawn of modern industrial architecture. Stylistically, it marks the transition from historicism and Art Nouveau to modernism. The preserved historical machinery – in particular the electric hoist – is unique in Germany. The hall is famous above all for its Art Nouveau portal with its coloured glazing. There is no other industrial building in Europe with a portal like this.

The machine hall also has great symbolic significance: when the plant was saved through civic engagement in 1969, it was the first industrial building of its kind in Germany to be placed under protection, thus establishing the new field of ‘industrial monument preservation’. Last but not least, the machine hall also became the nucleus of the Westphalian Industrial Museum, today's LWL Museums of Industrial Culture, with its eight locations. The machine hall thus represents the beginning of industrial heritage preservation and industrial culture.

3D tour (Eschenbach Media)

This offer is not accessible.

Renovation

The machine hall underwent extensive renovation between 2011 and 2016. The focus was on preserving the building with its diverse traces of use. Former museum director Dirk Zache explains the concept in the video (German).

To the Video (German)

© Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL)