The landmark of Dortmund is the big U on top of a former brewery building. Today the building houses besides others the Museum Ostwall and some exhibition rooms. The elements looking like mosaics are actually movies shown high over the city.
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 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.
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.
An interesting detail seen at the colliery Zeche Zollern: The Lohnhalle. This is a building shaped like a station hall with some cashier’s desks inside. Here the miners got paid their wages.
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.
The ‘Alte Verwaltung’ served as administration building and office of the director. It was designed by the architect Paul Knobbe. It looks a bit like a manor house or a chapel, doesn’t it?
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.