In the Ruhr valley, amid the silent structures of what was once the largest coking plant in Europe, school children ice-skate underneath ovens and smokestacks that once burned up thousands of tons of coal each day to acquire the vast quantity of heat and energy required in the making of steel.
The ice-rink forms part of the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex – closed in 1986 and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today the complex hosts an eclectic mix of post-industrial entities – startups, a restaurant, a centre for contemporary arts, a design museum, and, in the former coal-washing plant, the Ruhr Museum – dedicated to interpreting the region’s history.
The Ruhr was once the epicentre of West Germany’s Wirtschaftswunder – the country’s ‘miraculous’ economic recovery from the devastation of conflict. The coal and steel production facilities of the Ruhr, integrated into the new European Coal and Steel Community (the initial precursor to today’s European Union) underpinned a new era of post-war prosperity and optimism.
