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The LVR Industrial Museum Oberhausen

The Altenberg zinc factory is one of the few existing complete factory sites dating back to the late 19th century industrial boom years in the Ruhrgebiet. After it ceased operations in 1981 it was taken over by the Rhineland Regional Authority (LVR) in 1984 and converted into the headquarters of the LVR Industrial Museum. The permanent exhibition entitled "Heavy.Industry" opened in 1997 on an exhibition area of 3,500 m². It covers the 150 year history of the iron and steel industry on the Rhine and Ruhr. Massive heavy equipment like ingot moulds, rollers, a ten metre high 53 ton steam hammer, and a steam locomotive are some of the attractions awaiting visitors on a fascinating journey back into the age of heavy industry.

In order to avoid having to pay import duties, the Belgian company "Vieille Montagne" decided to produce goods within the boundaries of the State of Prussia. Favourable transport connections and the adjacent collieries and steel mills were decisive factors in choosing a location next to Oberhausen railway station. The upshot was the creation of the Altenberg zinc factory in 1854/55.

The factory closed down in 1981, and three years later the site was taken over by the Rhineland Regional Authority, who made it the headquarters of the Rhineland Industrial Museum. The old director’s villa now houses the museum administration, the library and the documentation centre. In August 1997 the Museum of Heavy Industry opened in the former rolling mill, which was originally used to produce zinc plate. Nowadays museum visitors can enjoy a journey back into the variegated history of heavy industry from its early years in the 19th century to the crisis in the steel industry and the current structural transformation in the region. The exhibition offers insights into the development of what were once the core industries of progress in the industrial age. It is not simply content to tell the history of the various companies but opens up perspectives on general questions on the economy, society and technology related to heavy industry.

The section in the entrance area shows how zinc was mined and processed and the dangers to health and the environment. Zinc used to be processed into sheet metal on this very spot, but now visitors can take a journey back into the development of heavy industry from its boom years to the crisis years. Machines for producing iron and steel, massive steel equipment like ingot moulds, steel rollers and an almost ten metre high, fifty-three ton steam hammer illustrate the different working processes. One of the largest exhibits is a goods train locomotive (number 50 2429), built by the Krupp factory in 1942. In front of the entrance to the museum on the Hansastraße visitors can see a twin arch overhead railway modelled on the one in Wuppertal.

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