Brander Wald is not only a 165-hectare nature reserve, it has also been a military domain since 1937, and that is no different today: you cannot enter it during weekdays because the Bundeswehr, the German army, still conducts exercises there.
A stone's throw from the headquarters of the Zeche Zollverein in Essen, a headframe has been preserved from a smaller coal mine that was part of the mining giant.
This 240-meter-long and 12-meter-high massive block of concrete once formed the storehouse with ores and coal for the Schalker Verein steel factory.
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On the occasion of International Art Nouveau Day, celebrated each year on June 10, a look at how this ornate architectural movement found its way into the most unlikely of places like coal mines, power stations, and railway yards and the long, sometimes heartbreaking battles to save what remains.
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