Manuelskotten

Description

Within Wuppertal’s industrial ensemble the Manuelskotten, also called the Kaltenbacher Kotten, occupies a special position as the city’s only preserved and still operating water-powered grinding workshop. The restored facility is part of the municipal collection of the Museum Industriekultur and is protected as a historic monument; it combines museum presentation with living craft practice.

The Kotten stands on the Kaltenbach, whose source area is near the Cronenberg town centre and which flows into the Wupper after a short 2.2-kilometre course. Since 1692 several water-powered enterprises have existed along this section of the stream, including hammer works, grinding kotten and a mill; the Manuelskotten is the youngest of these installations. The driving water is channeled via a weir to an overshot waterwheel; belts and gears distribute the rotary power to several grinding and polishing stones. To supplement the water power, in the 20th century a steam engine was first used, later a diesel engine and finally an electric motor.

The Kotten’s date of origin is variously given as around 1850 or 1755. From 1867 the facility was operated by an owner whose first name is the source of the Kotten’s present common name. At its heyday up to 28 grinders worked independently on site. After a fire in 1901 the building was rebuilt a year later a few metres upstream; its shed roof henceforth gave it the appearance of a small factory. In the course of the restoration the Kotten came into municipal ownership in 1993.

Today the facility functions as an industrial museum and as an active workshop: historic grinding devices are used to re-sharpen cutter knives and specialised knives for food processing according to the traditional Knienaß method; the craft on display is therefore not purely museum-bound. Since 2017 the upper floor has been home to the exhibition "Geschichte + Werkzeuge", supplemented since 2020 by a media station.