150px, Ruhr Industrial Heritage Trail Zeche Carl (Carl Mine) is a

cultural centre A cultural center or cultural centre is an organization, building or complex that promotes culture and arts. Cultural centers can be neighborhood community arts organizations, private facilities, government-sponsored, or activist-run. Asia * Cen ...

set up by Essen Council in a former

coal mine Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

History

The mine was founded by the Hercules Company in Altenessen in 1855. It should not be confused with the Hercules mine in central Essen. They sank a shaft equipped with a large-sized Malakow tower with two wings. The mine went operational in 1861. That same year Hercules was acquired by the Cologne Mining Association under

Friedrich Grillo Henrich Friedrich Theodor Ernst Grillo (20 December 1825, Essen – 16 April 1888, Düsseldorf-Grafenberg) was a prominent industrialist in the Ruhr area of Germany, particularly in Essen and Gelsenkirchen. Born the son of an Essen merchant ...

and was renamed the Zeche Carl. The mine was soon to develop as it produced high quality

Anthracite Anthracite, also known as hard coal, and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic luster. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the hig ...

suitable for producing coke. From 1883, it simply produced Carl Coke. An additional ventilation shaft was drilled between 1885 and 1887. In 1899 the Malakow tower was upgraded for double conveyance. The production was increased to 300,000 tonnes a year. After the First World War, the Cologne Mining Association was taken over by

Hoesch AG Hoesch AG was an important steel and mining company with locations in the Ruhr area and Siegen. In 1871, Hoesch was founded by Leopold Hoesch. In 1938, Hoesch employed 30,000 people. In 1972, the prominent steel producer merged with the Dutch ...

. Coal production was discontinued in 1929. The main shaft was dismantled and the ventilation shaft used for Zeche Emil Emscher. The ventilation shaft was in turn abandoned in 1955, and in 1970 all other colliery work at the site was brought to a close. It is one of the sites included in the Ruhr Industrial Heritage Trail

Recent Use

In 1977, at the initiative of various citizens, youth and the local Protestant church ''Initiative Center Zeche Carl eV'' was established to run the former colliery as a

Cultural Centre A cultural center or cultural centre is an organization, building or complex that promotes culture and arts. Cultural centers can be neighborhood community arts organizations, private facilities, government-sponsored, or activist-run. Asia * Cen ...

. The entire group of buildings are now being conserved. The reconstructed building has developed as a pan-regional cultural centre offering a diverse programme of concerts, parties, classes, readings, exhibitions workshops etc. It also provides space for other community groups, including

Offene Kanal Essen Offener Kanal Essen (Open Channel Essen) is a public television station based in Zeche Carl, Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its popula ...

, a public

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

station. As a Rock venue, Zeche Carl has hosted numerous bands. Following the bankruptcy of the original association, Carl Gmbh was set up as nonprofit organisation, and is headed by Marcus Kalbitzer, who followed Kornelia Vossebein in 2020.Musikwoche: Wechsel in der Geschäftsführung bei Zeche Carl
Retrieved 21 September 2021 (german).

References

* Wilhelm Hermann, Gertrude Hermann: ''Die alten Zechen an der Ruhr'' 6. erweiterte und aktualisierte Auflage, Verlag Karl Robert Langewiesche, Nachfolger Hans Köster KG, Königstein i. Taunus, 2006,
Rheinische Bergbauroute: Kulturzentrum Zeche Carl
The Industrial Heritage Trail.

External links

Zeche Carl
- official site {{Authority control Ruhr Buildings and structures in Essen Tourist attractions in North Rhine-Westphalia Music venues in Germany