At the theme park Mendlingtal there is a chance to watch log drivers at work. In the photo above some workers are trying to put the logs through the last weir before the logs will arrive at the timber mill.
Category: Industrial Heritage
Timber mill at Mendlingtal
Everybody knows the scenery of American Old West. Can we see anything similar in good old Austria too? Sure! The photo shown above was taken at a theme park in Mendlingtal Valley in Mostviertel. The park is all about logging in earlier times. The building in the background is housing a Venetian saw dating back to 1907.
Schmiedegesellenhaus at Mendlingtal
At the theme park Mendlingtal the former building for the young blacksmiths (Schmiedegesellen) serves as museum now. Inside one can learn about the life of the blacksmiths, woodcutters and the owners of the hammer mills named Hammerherren.
Pithead bath in Dortmund
A detail I was especially impressed in. At the coking plant Hansa I saw a pithead bath. In this hall the workers put their clothes in special frameworks. Each framework is movable up and down by a chain.
Kokerei Hansa in Dortmund
Kokerei Hansa is a former coking plant in Dortmund. Today the plant houses a huge climbing gym named Kletterhalle Bergwerk and the remaining installations can be visited by guided tours.
Sundheimer Huhn at Zeche Zollern
In earlier times German miners used to have a small garden for vegetable and animals behind their homes. While strolling around a mining settlement next to the colliery Zeche Zollern I came across this special breed of chickens. In German they are called Sundheimer.
Lohnhalle at Zeche Zollern
A fascinating building at the colliery Zeche Zollern: The Lohnhalle. It is shaped like a station hall with some cashier’s desks inside. Here the miners got paid their wages.
Art Nouveau door at Zeche Zollern
A fascinating detail of the Zeche Zollern, a colliery in Dortmund: The door at the machine hall is built in the style of Jugendstil (Art Nouveau). Unfortunately, it was closed for renovation during my visit.
Administration building of Zeche Zollern
The designer of this building was the architect Paul Knobbe. In German, it is known as the ‘Alte Verwaltung‘. That means it served as the administration building. It looks like a manor house or a chapel, doesn’t it?
Zeche Zollern in Dortmund
Zeche Zollern is a colliery in Dortmund built in 1898/1904. Some parts of the colliery are built like a castle, therefore it is also called ‘Castle of Work’. It became famous for several special architectural elements, e.g. a gate of the machine hall in the style of art nouveau.
German mining museum in Bochum
The German Mining Museum (Deutsches Bergbau-Museum) consists of a show mine and an extensive collection of exhibits regarding mining. The photo above was taken at the elevator bringing visitors down to the show mine. [German]
Ruhrtriennale in Bochum
The Ruhrtriennale is an annual music and arts festival in the Ruhr area of Germany. The locations of the Ruhrtriennale are generally industrial heritage sites like the Jahrhunderthalle in Bochum, the Zeche Zollverein or the Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord.