Discover Europe's rich industrial heritage with a journey through its historic sites. From towering steel mills to repurposed factories, explore the monuments to innovation and the legacy of the Industrial Revolution.
In 1847, the coal and steel industry in the German Ruhr area reached cruising speed as industrialist Franz Haniel erected a coal mine in Essen.
When the northern French coal mines were nationalized after the Second World War under the Houillères du bassin du Nord et du Pas-de-Calais, rationality and efficiency were the order of the day, including in the mining towns.
The 43-metre-high headframe of the Saint-Amé mine reminds us of the turbulent coal history of the northern French municipality of Liévin, near Lens.
After the dismantling of fosse 9 in Roost-Warendin, only the 61-meter-high headframe remained.
A 50-meter-high water tower rises from the ground between the former Tempelhof railway yard tracks in Berlin. With a capacity of 400 cubic meters of water, he could supply ten steam locomotives with the snap of a finger.
Barely a quarter of a century after constructing the Anhalter Bahn railway depot, the water reservoir was no longer sufficient to supply the larger and more powerful steam locomotives. That is why a completely new water tower was erected in 1908.
At the end of the last century, there seemed to be no limit on coal mining in the German Saarland. For example, the Göttelborn mine was expanded in 1994 with a ninety-meter-high headframe, then the highest in the world. Göttelborn seemed ready for the future.
While the Krupp family ruled the roost in the German Ruhr area, the Stumm family was in charge in the Saarland. The cradle of their steel empire was in Neunkirchen.
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