St. Antony Ironworks - The cradle of Ruhr industry
Opening of the LVR Industrial Archaeology Park
Front view of St. Antony smeltery 2009 / Photo: LVR-Industriemuseum
Osterfeld, a district of Oberhausen, was the "cradle of Ruhr industry". It was here on 18 October 1758 that hot metal flowed from the Ruhr's first blast furnace. The site was used until 1877, initially as an ironworks, and then from 1842 as an iron foundry. Gutehoffnungshütte, a global corporation, can be traced back to the St. Antony plant. However, after St. Antony was shut down, almost all the buildings were demolished.
In 2006, the Rhineland Regional Council (LVR) and its Commission for Historical Sites, together with the LVR Museum of Industry, set about locating the remains of the first ironworks in this coal-mining region. The enduring witnesses to the "cradle of Ruhr industry" will be on show to the general public at the LVR Industrial Archaeology Park from June 2010.
The open-access excavation site and the museum, which opened in 2008 and is located in the house once occupied by the ironworks director, recount the thrilling story of how Ruhr industry came into being - bribery, gunfights and subterfuge included.
from June 2010
LVR Industrial Archaeology Park St. Antony-Hütte, Oberhausen
Tue to Sun, 10:00 - 17:00
The LVR Industrial Archaeology Park is supported by the NRW-Stiftung Natur, Heimat, Kultur, the Sparkassen-Bürgerstiftung Oberhausen, the Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Rheinland, the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the City of Oberhausen, Gesellschaft zur Förderung des LVR-Industriemuseums e. V., MAN AG, MAN-Turbo AG and Heinrich Becker GmbH.
You can find further information (in German) at:
www.industriemuseum.lvr.de/schauplaetze/oberhausen/antony/