Six blast furnaces
Standing with their coal and ore handling and the blowing hall's engines.
Carsten Steger — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Flocci Nivis — CC BY 4.0 · Ralf Steinberger from Milan, Berlin + Munich, Italy + Germany — CC BY 2.0 · Superbass — CC BY-SA 4.0
A vast ironworks that ceased production in 1986, and the first industrial site of the industrial age to be inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list, in 1994. What makes it unique is that it was never dismantled. When ironworks close their equipment is normally sold for scrap, but this complex survived complete: the six blast furnaces, the coal and ore handling systems, the blowing hall with its huge engines, and the works' rails, pipes and chimneys. It is the only ironworks surviving with its full equipment from the height of the iron age of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The route climbs to a platform about forty-five metres above the furnaces and descends into the tunnels beneath them. What deserves saying: thousands of workers laboured here in harsh conditions, and forced labour from occupied Europe was used during the Second World War. The display addresses this. Today the complex is also used for art exhibitions and large concerts inside the industrial spaces. Allow half a day.
Standing with their coal and ore handling and the blowing hall's engines.
Workers from occupied Europe were used here, and the display addresses it.
The complex now hosts contemporary art and concerts in the industrial spaces.
Völklingen, Saarland
Because the UNESCO list is not confined to temples and palaces but includes what testifies to decisive stages in human history. The industrial revolution changed how people live and work more than any event since agriculture, and Völklingen is the only complete physical witness to iron-making technology at its height. Its inscription in 1994 opened the way for other industrial sites such as Zollverein in Essen.
By train from Baden-Baden to Saarbrücken then a local train to Völklingen — the station is minutes on foot from the entrance. The journey is about two and a half hours each way, so it is a full day. By car it is around two hours. The complex is large, so start early.
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