Weltkulturerbe Völklinger Hütte

Description

The Völklinger Hütte in Völklingen (Saar) stands as a preserved industrial complex for pig iron production of the 19th and 20th centuries and today forms a centre of European industrial heritage.

The site lies to the southwest of the town centre immediately adjacent to Völklingen station; the former track systems served to transport raw materials and people to the plant. The operation was founded in 1873 as a puddling and rolling mill; after a temporary halt in the 1880s the Röchling brothers took over the works and expanded production. By the end of the 19th century the works were among the leading manufacturers of iron beams in Germany. The introduction of the Thomas process made it possible to smelt the regional Minette ore until 1963. Technical additions such as coke ovens, gas blowers and an aerial railway system shaped its development; in 1911 the world’s first dry gas cleaning plant was introduced, making blast-furnace gas usable.

The works went through wartime and postwar phases: in the First World War hundreds of forced labourers and prisoners were employed; at least 143 of them died. A blast-furnace accident in 1928 claimed 13 victims. In the Second World War thousands of forced labourers worked in the region; 261 of them died at the works. After repeated sequestrations and various corporate mergers, production declined as a result of the steel crisis; production was halted in 1986, and a few days earlier the blast-furnace complex had been placed under monument protection. In the early 1990s the site opened to the public and became a venue for concerts, theatre and exhibitions.

In 1994 UNESCO declared the pig iron production of the Völklinger Hütte a World Heritage Site; the core area covers 7.46 hectares. A European centre for art and industrial culture has been established on the site; light installations and the conversion to modern LED control create nocturnal scenography. Since 2004 the ScienceCenter Ferrodrom has supplemented the interpretation with multimedia exhibits on the cultural history of iron.

Visitors can tour key areas: the sinter plant with the UNESCO Visitor Centre, the Erzhalle and the Möllerhalle with exhibition spaces, as well as the blast-furnace group with the cast-house/tapping platform, hot-blast stoves, coke plant, blower hall and gasometers, which together illustrate the production process.