Headframe above the Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum unveiled
The double trestle headframe above the Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum (DBM), Bochum/Germany, is once again fully visible. The white tarpaulin and scaffolding have been removed and the refurbishment is almost complete (Figure 1).This will be celebrated in style on 22nd February 2025 with a big museum festival.The special exhibition “Doppelbock auf Museum” will also run until May 2025.
The extensive renovation project for Bochum’s popular landmark began in January 2024: It initially took four months to enclose the industrial monument, which was completely scaffolded and covered with a dust-proof tarpaulin. Restoration work followed in several phases.Old layers of paint were removed and necessary steel work, such as the replacement of brackets and bolts, was carried out.The headframe was then re-primed, coated and finally painted in the familiar “Germania green” colour. It now shines brightly again and is slightly bluer than before. Wind and weather had attacked the steel – the last refurbishment took place 25 years ago.
Dismantling of the scaffolding began at the end of October 2024. “We are delighted that the construction site remained on schedule and on budget and that the headframe is now visible again,” says project manager Siegfried Müller from DBM. “We had to keep adapting our tight schedule to changing conditions, but this worked out well thanks to the excellent cooperation with Xervon. It was helpful that scaffolding, corrosion protection and steel construction were offered from a single source.” Work is currently underway in the atriums at the foot of the headframe, on the platforms at the top and on the new, permanent lighting installation.
The inauguration of the renovated headframe will be celebrated on Saturday, 22nd February 2025 with a large public festival in, around and above the DBM. On this day, the Leibniz Research Museum for Georesources will showcase its exhibits and its capabilities. The grand finale will be the activation of the new illumination of the headframe. Further details will be announced in good time on the museum’s website.
The total volume of the refurbishment amounts to 4.5 M €. The majority of the funding comes from the “Investments in nationally significant cultural institutions” (INK2022) agenda of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM). Further funding comes from the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MKW), the City of Bochum, DMT-Gesellschaft für Lehre und Bildung mbH (DMT-LB) and the German Foundation for Monument Protection. Further financial support is provided by the Vereinigung der Freunde des Deutschen Bergbau-Museums Bochum e.V. in cooperation with the NRW-Stiftung.
Since May 2024, the special exhibition “Doppelbock auf Museum” has accompanied the renovation of the pithead frame. Exciting exhibits from various decades are shown here in a modern construction site look and the history of the headframe is brought to life at numerous interactive stations. The exhibition will be shown in the special exhibition building (DBM+) of the DBM and will run until 18th May 2025.
The headframe has been towering over the DBM since 1973. Previously, it stood at the Germania mine in Dortmund-Marten. Designed by the renowned industrial architects Fritz Schupp and Martin Kremmer, the full-walled double headframe (also known as a double-strut headframe) had been erected 40 years earlier. With a weight of 650 t, a height of around 70 m and a diameter of the sheaves of around 8 m, it was considered to be the world’s largest headframe at the time and was one of the most modern and also most powerful winding systems in the German hard coal industry. After the closure of the Germania mine in 1971, the double headframe was dismantled into individual parts and transported to Bochum on special lorries. (DBM/Si.)
