Coal Washing Plant

After years of cleaning up the buildings, in 2001 the plan started to refurbish and reuse the coal washing plant, and create a special programme for the future Ruhr Museum. Now it houses the Zollverein visitor centre. The entrance presented a particular challenge because there was no main entrance during the period in which the pit was in operation, and it had to do justice to the new usage. The architects designed a new gangway in the open air in front of the building, supported solely by a single v-shaped pillar. With 24.3 m height it’s it the highest open-air moving staircase in Germany. The gangway leads visitors from the plaza to the visitor centre in the foyer at the 24-m level. From here, on their way into the exhibition, guests pass the impressive machinery with screening drums, dosing wagons and jigging sieves, water basins and conveyor belts, to the imposing bunker which was once used for storing raw coal -now opened up and serves as a stairway to the levels below.