The Gasometer Oberhausen is a former

gas holder A gas holder or gasholder, also known as a gasometer, is a large container in which natural gas or town gas is stored near atmospheric pressure at ambient temperatures. The volume of the container follows the quantity of stored gas, with pressu ...

Oberhausen Oberhausen (, ) is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen ( ). The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Rout ...

, Germany, which has been converted into an exhibition space. It has hosted several large scale exhibitions, including two by

Christo and Jeanne-Claude Christo Vladimirov Javacheff (1935–2020) and Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon (1935–2009), known as Christo and Jeanne-Claude, were artists noted for their large-scale, site-specific environmental installations, often large landmarks and ...

. The Gasometer is an industrial landmark, and an anchor point of the

European Route of Industrial Heritage The European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH) is a tourist route of the most important industrial heritage sites in Europe. This is a tourism industry information initiative to present a network of industrial heritage sites across Europe. The a ...

and

the Industrial Heritage Trail The Industrial Heritage Trail (german: Route der Industriekultur) links tourist attractions related to the industrial heritage in the Ruhr area in Germany. It is a part of the European Route of Industrial Heritage. The series of routes were devel ...

. It was built in the 1920s, and reconstructed after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

History

In the 1920s the coal and steel industry in the

Ruhrgebiet The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...

produced

blast furnace gas Blast furnace gas (BFG) is a by-product of blast furnaces that is generated when the iron ore is reduced with coke to metallic iron. It has a very low heating value, about 93 BTU/cubic foot (3.5 MJ/m3), because it consists of about 51 ...

and

coal gas Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system. It is produced when coal is heated strongly in the absence of air. Town gas is a more general term referring to manufactured gaseous ...

as a by-product of iron production and

coking Coking is the heating of coal in the absence of oxygen to a temperature above 600 °C to drive off the volatile components of the raw coal, leaving a hard, strong, porous material of high carbon content called coke. Coke consists almost ent ...

, while the steel industry as well as coking used large amounts of these gasses or alternative fuels. As supply and demand of gas varied independently, sometimes excess gas had to be flared off, while at other times additional fuel had to be purchased. The Gasometer was built as a buffer: storing excess gas and releasing it again when demand exceeded production. The Gasometer was built by

Gutehoffnungshütte MAN SE (abbreviation of ''Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg'', ) was a manufacturing and engineering company based in Munich, Germany. Its primary output was commercial vehicles and diesel engines through its MAN Truck & Bus and MAN Latin Ame ...

, by the side of the Rhine-Herne Canal. Construction started 27 February 1927 and cost 1.74 million

Reichsmark The (; sign: ℛℳ; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until 20 June 1948 in West Germany, where it was replaced with the , and until 23 June 1948 in East Germany, where it was replaced by the East German mark. The Reich ...

. A framework of 24 steel girders was built on a concrete base, and a skin of 5mm thick sheet metal was riveted to the framework. Inside, a 1,207,000 kg pressure disc was mounted which could freely move up and down, floating on top of the gas underneath and keeping it at a constant pressure. 15 May 1929 the Gasometer was first put into operation, with a maximum capacity of 347,000m³, a height of 117.5m and diameter of 67.6m. During

, the Gasometer was hit by bombs several times, but kept operating. When it was shelled by allied forces it did not explode, but the gas burned up and the pressure disc slowly descended. The Gasometer officially stopped operating 31 December 1944. It was completely disassembled after it had caught fire during repair work on 10 June 1946. Reconstruction began 1949 using the original pressure disc and roof. By 1 June 1950 the Gasometer was operational again. In 1977 the Gasometer was repainted, at a cost of 3.5 million DM. In later years many coking plants and iron works closed, reducing supply as well as demand for the gas stored in the Gasometer. In addition, natural gas became cheaper. The Gasometer became superfluous and in 1988 it was decommissioned by its owner,

Ruhrkohle AG RAG AG, formerly Ruhrkohle AG, is the largest German coal mining corporation. The company headquarters are in Essen in the Ruhr area. The company was founded on 27 November 1968, consolidating several coalmining corporations into the Ruhrkoh ...

. A discussion ensued about the dismantling or possible reuse of the Gasometer. In 1992 the city council of Oberhausen, with a margin of 1 vote decided to acquire the building and convert it to an exhibition space. At the time, plans were being developed for building shopping mall (

CentrO Centro may refer to: Places Brazil *Centro, Santa Maria, a neighborhood in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Centro, Porto Alegre, a neighborhood of Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil *Centro (Duque de Caxias), a neighborhood of Duq ...

) on an adjacent plot, and

Internationale Bauausstellung Emscher Park The Internationale Bauausstellung Emscher Park (IBA Emscher Park) or International Architecture Exhibition Emscher Park was a programme for structural changes in the so-called German Ruhr region from 1989 to 1999 in order to show new concepts in ...

planned to use the Gasometer for its exhibition. Ownership transferred to the city of Oberhausen, with Ruhrkohle AG paying 1.8 million DM in saved demolition costs to the city. Conversion and restoration were done by Deutsche Babcock AG in 1993–1994. The former pressure disc was fixed at 4.5m height, with a 3000m² exhibition space on the ground floor below. The main exhibition space, on top of the pressure disc, was fitted with a stage and seating for 500 people. Lifts and stairs were fitted to provide visitors access to the roof. Conversion cost approximately DM 16 million.

Exhibitions

Fire & Flame (1994–1995)

The exhibition "Fire and Flame" documented the history of the coal and iron industry in the Ruhr area and its influence on society. It attracted about 460,000 visitors.

I Phoenix (1996)

"I Phoenix" was an exhibition of contemporary art. It attracted 96,000 visitors.

The Dream of Vision (1997)

The exhibition "The Dream of Vision" dealt with the history of television.

Christo: The Wall (1999)

"The Wall" was organised as part of the IBA Emscher Park, at a cost of nearly 4 million DM. It was an installation by

, consisting of a stack of 13,000 oil drums in 7 colours, 68m wide, 26m high, and 7m deep, and weighed 234,000 kg. It attracted 390,000 visitors.

The Ball is Round (2000)

This exhibition was organised for the centenary of the

German Football Association The German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fußball-Bund ; DFB ) is the governing body of football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and is in charge of t ...

in 2000, and documented the history of football. It had 216,000 visitors.

Blue Gold (2001-2002)

"Blue Gold" dealt with the subject of water. It included 833,000 kg of sand. An installation by

Paul Schütze Paul Schütze (born 1 May 1958) is an Australian artist resident in London. Over thirty years his work has spanned composition, performance, installation, video, printmaking and photography. Biography Schütze was born in Melbourne, Australi ...

included a 50m high cone of water in an artificial lake, and video projections.

Bill Viola: Five Angels for the Millennium (2003)

This was a video installation by

Bill Viola Bill Viola ( , ; born 1951) is an American contemporary video artist whose artistic expression depends upon electronic, sound, and image technology in new media. His works focus on the ideas behind fundamental human experiences such as birth, d ...

. It had 140,000 visitors.

Wind of Hope (2004)

This exhibition dealt with

Brian Jones Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969) was an English multi-instrumentalist and singer best known as the founder, rhythm/lead guitarist, and original leader of the Rolling Stones. Initially a guitarist, he went on to prov ...

and

Bertrand Piccard Bertrand Piccard FRSGS (born 1 March 1958) is a Swiss explorer, psychiatrist and environmentalist. Along with Brian Jones, he was the first to complete a non-stop balloon flight around the globe, in a balloon named Breitling Orbiter 3. He was ...

's 1999 round–the–world balloon flight, and it displayed their high

Breitling Orbiter 3 ''Breitling Orbiter'' was the name of three different Rozière balloons made by the Bristol based balloon manufacturer Cameron Balloons to circumnavigate the globe, named after the Swiss watchmakers Breitling. The third was successful in Marc ...

balloon inside the Gasometer.

Fire Light Sky (2006)

"Fire Light Sky" was an installation of sound and light by

Christina Kubisch Christina Kubisch (born 31 January 1948) is a German composer, sound artist, performance artist, professor and flautist. She composes both electronic and acoustic music for multimedia installations. She gained recognition in the mid-1970s from h ...

, combined with an exhibition about the history of the Gasometer.

The Eye in the Sky (2007-2008)

This exhibition was a cooperation with DLR. It showed large satellite images of the earth and various objects to do with space exploration. It had 375,000 visitors.

Out of this World – Wonders of the Solar System (2009–2010)

This exhibition about space and the solar system was organised to mark the

International Year of Astronomy The International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) was a year-long celebration of astronomy that took place in 2009 to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the first recorded astronomical observations with a telescope by Galileo Galilei and the pu ...

. It was a project of

Ruhr.2010 Ruhr.2010 – Kulturhauptstadt Europas was the name of the campaign in Germany's Ruhr region that earned it recognition as a European Capital of Culture in 2010. This was the first time a region was considered, as Essen represented all 53 towns ...

and ran from 2 April 2009 till 30 December 2010. Part of the show was a model of the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

, 25m in diameter. 950,000 people visited the exhibition.

Magic Places (2011–2012)

This was an exhibition about natural and cultural monuments of the world. It had 800,000 visitors.

Christo: Big Air Package (2013)

"Big Air Package" (16 March 2013 – 30 December 2013) was one of the last three projects started by Christo with Jeanne-Claude, before Jeanne-Claude's death in 2009. It consisted of an envelope made of 20,350m² of semitransparent fabric and 4,500m of rope, weighing 5,300 kg. Inflated to a volume of 177,000m³, it was 90m high, 50m wide and was pressurised at 27

pascal Pascal, Pascal's or PASCAL may refer to: People and fictional characters * Pascal (given name), including a list of people with the name * Pascal (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** Blaise Pascal, Fren ...

over atmospheric pressure by two fans. Visitors could enter the installation through airlocks, and walk around inside the Gasometer.

The Appearance of Beauty (2014–2015)

This exhibition showed the variety of beauty in art with almost 200 works as plaster casts or large-format photo prints from the

Venus de Milo The ''Venus de Milo'' (; el, Αφροδίτη της Μήλου, Afrodíti tis Mílou) is an ancient Greek sculpture that was created during the Hellenistic period, sometime between 150 and 125 BC. It is one of the most famous works of ancient ...

to McCurry's

Afghan Girl ''Afghan Girl'' is a 1984 photographic portrait of Sharbat Gula, an Afghan refugee in Pakistan during the Soviet–Afghan War. The photograph, taken by American photojournalist Steve McCurry near the Pakistani city of Peshawar, famously appeared ...

. It had 480,000 visitors.

References

External links

Gasometer
official site {{Authority control European Route of Industrial Heritage Anchor Points Buildings and structures completed in 1929 Buildings and structures in Oberhausen Tourist attractions in Oberhausen Museums in North Rhine-Westphalia Art museums and galleries in Germany Gas holders 1929 establishments in Germany