Colosseum (Bochum)

Western part of the building with the former signal box of the Bochum Association

Friedrich Gräsel, DIN 1511 , exhibited in the Colosseum, 1985–1990, 1994, steel, painted. Location: Alleestraße, Bochum

With Colosseum the radicals of a retaining wall in Bochum referred to the input of the former Krupp site on Alleestraße. Today it forms the southern boundary of the West Park .

The 16 meter high retaining masonry made of around 2.8 million bricks was built in 1911 and secures the earth masses behind it. The Martin steelworks I from 1874/1889 and the Martin steelworks II, which went into operation in 1912, with gas generator hall, mixer hall, furnace hall and casting hall stood on this area; the hall complex was 300 meters long and 100 meters deep. In 1983 the works were closed and all buildings razed to the ground.

The remains of the building in the western retaining wall and the adjoining arched facade in the southern area have been preserved. The building housed washrooms, offices and material stores. There are still various remains of the former use, for example sinks and tubs. In the lower part there are still crawlways, which served as a bunker replacement for the workers in the Second World War and were part of a spacious, underground air defense system. The arched facade is currently used to present seven steel sculptures by the Bochum artist Friedrich Gräsel . In 1994 they were already exhibited there, in the meantime at a traveling exhibition and since 2001 - after acquisition by the “Stiftung der Sparkasse Bochum for the promotion of culture and science” - they were placed there until the building was renovated. They consist of industrial standard parts, mostly round tubes, which the artist welded together to form steel steles between 1985 and 1990 and painted them in different colors according to DIN 1511.

The entire building was very dilapidated, with cracks in the masonry, the fifth floor demolished and the roof structure missing. In 2005, the state development company NRW and the city of Bochum commissioned a renovation project, 40 unemployed people were supposed to get a job through an ARGE qualification, which was heavily criticized by the unemployed forum Germany. At the beginning of March 2010 the square in front of the Colosseum and the building itself were reopened after the renovation was completed. Since then, Gräsel's characters have been presented there again.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.bochumer-bunker.de/html/bochumer_verein_.html
2. ↑ http://www.elo-forum.org/pressemachrichten-erwerbslosen-forum-deutschland/676-sklavenhaendlern-sklaventreibern-sklavenabnehmer.html
3. ↑ City of Bochum:  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Opening of the square in front of the Colosseum on the grounds of downtown West in Bochum on Alleestraße  

Web links

Commons : Colosseum  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Description of all locations on this themed route as part of the Route of Industrial Culture

• Westpark and Colosseum at baukunst-nrw

Coordinates: 51 ° 28 ′ 44.7 "  N , 7 ° 11 ′ 54"  E