Völklingen Ironworks

The works produced pig iron from the early 1880s until the blast furnaces were shut down in 1986, and instead of being demolished the whole plant was left standing with its machinery in place. In 1994 it became the first industrial monument of the era to enter the UNESCO World Heritage list, cited as the only complete surviving example of an integrated ironworks from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Visitors walk the ore shed, the sintering plant, the blowing engine house and up onto the furnace platform at about twenty-seven metres. Parts have been left to vegetation as a Paradise garden growing through the structures, and large exhibitions use the halls.

History

Julius Buch built a steelworks on the Saar here in 1873, but it stopped after six years and was bought by Karl Röchling, who began a blast furnace in 1881; four more furnaces followed in 1885-1893, a coking plant in 1897, and in 1900 the works became the first large ironworks to drive its furnaces with blast-furnace gas, and by the 1910s it was Germany's largest producer of steel beams. The plant shut in 1986 during the steel crisis with its 1930s furnaces and coking plant intact, and on 17 December 1994 it was declared a World Heritage Site (Wikipedia, Völklingen Ironworks).

What to look for

• The complete plant - furnaces, sheds and machinery left in place since 1986.
• The furnace platform - a walkway at about twenty-seven metres.
• The blowing engine house - a hall of vast gas engines still in position.
• The Paradise - industrial ground reclaimed by vegetation.

When to go

April to October for the outdoor routes; the site is open year-round with shorter winter hours and some walkways close in ice or storm. Exhibitions run in the halls.

What to expect

The site is very large with much walking, stairs and open metal walkways. High routes close in bad weather. It is industrial and grimy by nature.

Nearby

Saarbrücken lies east; the Saar Loop is northwest.

Key facts