Rhine Elbe dump

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On the stockpile Rheinelbe with a view of the inner hilltop with stairway to heaven by Herman Prigann

The stockpile Rheinelbe is about 100  m above sea level. NHN high pedestrian and vehicle traffic Bergehalde in Gelsenkirchen-Ückendorf . It is located there on Leithestrasse near Halfmannshof . The Rheinelbe stockpile is very popular with dirt bike , downhill and freeride riders who have built various routes outside of the normal routes over the years.

history

The heap was filled up during the Rheinelbe colliery operation until it was closed in 1928. The dump was also used afterwards, in particular as a source for building material and for further embankments. Finally, in 1999, the last filling took place and with it the end of the typical function of a dump.

Rheinelbe is one of the burning heaps . There are also coal residues in the overburden; these react exothermically with the oxygen in the air that penetrates into the heap, and the heat build-up ultimately leads to spontaneous combustion. Temperatures of up to 400 degrees Celsius were measured.

As part of the IBA Emscherpark , the Rhine Elbe dump was developed as a local recreation area and is one of the landmarks of the Ruhr area today . It is also part of the industrial culture route and represents a table mountain with an additional, un-greened pointed cone.

In one of the last remaining colliery buildings in the Rheinelbe Forest, the former transformer station, is the largest forest station in the Ruhr area. The old workshop halls have been converted into artist studios on a site attached to the heap.

Sculpture forest

Moonwood
Birch nest

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the artist Herman Prigann had a "sculpture forest ", sometimes called a "sculpture park" (not to be confused with the wooden sculptures on the Haniel heap ), on the heap and in the surrounding area . Waste materials from the industrial age such as pieces of wall, concrete blocks and old steel parts combine with natural materials such as oak logs and gravel to form archaic landscape sculptures.

The actual Haldenberg is accessible with spiral paths. The sky stairs , which can be seen from afar , are enthroned on top , a ten meter high structure made of heavy concrete blocks. The grand staircase , made of various pieces of rubble, leads to another mountain peak. There is the sculpture moon wood made of massive bolted tree trunks. Heavy concrete blocks supported on upright tree trunks should slowly sink over time and thus symbolize the transience of all materials and the passage of time. However, since the tree trunks gave way much earlier than planned and the concrete blocks were a danger, Prigann changed his concept and placed the concrete blocks on the trunks lying on the ground.

At the stairway to Haldenberg, Prigann set up a series of concrete steles on which examples of Bergmann's poetry from the Ruhr area are carved. These are later partially broken and no longer fully preserved.

Prigann was regularly active on the Rheinelbe site, erecting new sculptures or continuing to work on existing ones. Finally, a large wind balance was added, a steel sculpture that makes metallic noises in the wind. In addition, there are a number of other works that are scattered around the site. It is therefore definitely worth leaving the established paths and exploring the forest on the beaten path.

Panoramas

Panoramic view from the Haldentop, the foot of the spiral cone is visible in the lower area.
360 ° panoramic view from the heavenly staircase with the lettering of important buildings
360 ° panorama on the stockpile Rheinelbe Show
as spherical panorama

Individual evidence

  1. a b Wolfgang Berke : Across all mountains - The definitive stockpile guide in the Ruhr area. Klartext Verlag, Essen 2009, ISBN 9783837501704 , p. 100.
  2. Gelsenkirchen: Himmelsleiter sprayed completely silver . FUNKE Digital First GmbH. March 26, 2019. Retrieved April 26, 2019.

Web links

Commons : Halde Rheinelbe Süd  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Sculpture Forest Rheinelbe  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 29 ′ 9.6 ″  N , 7 ° 6 ′ 39.6 ″  E