Hansa coking plant

The Hansa coking plant in Dortmund-Huckarde lures young and old into its enchanted cosmos of rusty steel, dark red bricks and lush industrial nature. As a "large walk-in sculpture", the plant provides exciting insights into the past of an impressive industrial plant as well as into decisive aspects of structural change. The adventure trail takes visitors directly to the imposing compressor hall, to the coal tower or to areas that have been reclaimed by industrial nature. The coking plant is now in the care of the Foundation for the Preservation of Industrial Monuments and Historical Culture.

In 1870 the Hansa colliery went into operation; In 1895, the company's first coking plant was built on the site. However, rationalization measures in heavy industry made "larger dimensions" necessary: ​​the large-scale Hansa coking plant was one of 17 new and efficient central coking plants built between 1926 and 1929 in the Ruhr area. The district of Huckarde provided ideal site conditions for this. Above all, the favorable location to the Dortmunder Union iron and steel works, a plant of the United Steelworks conglomerate, to which Hansa and Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks AG also belonged since 1926. The new central coking plant replaced run-down plants at the Hansa, Tremonia, Zollern and Germania collieries and, with a daily coke production of up to 5200 tons at peak times, was one of the largest coking plants in the Ruhr area for a long time.

In 1980, the Hansa colliery was shut down after 110 years of funding. Other mines initially supplied the Dortmund coking plant; then in 1992 came the end for them too. The shutdown of more and more blast furnaces in the course of the steel crisis had also caused the demand for coke to collapse; cheaper natural gas has largely replaced the coke oven gases previously used.

Today the "old lady" still exudes a lot of rough charm. For example, when one of the five gas compressors that were once powered by steam is set in motion during a guided tour and causes great amazement. The "Nature and Technology" adventure tours take you all year round into the exciting history of the mining industry and into the world of coal and coke. Due to its mixture of nature, architecture and technology, the coking plant is a popular destination for children and adults alike, who can explore the monument and learn a lot of interesting things at the same time.