Doppelbock exhibition in Bochum: A landmark shines anew!

Doppelbock exhibition in Bochum: A landmark shines anew!

The special exhibition “Doppelbock auf Museum” in the German Mining Museum Bochum is being extended. Originally planned from May 15, 2024 to May 18, 2025, the successful exhibition will now remain open until June 29, 2025. This is reported by the Bochum tourism website, which documented the high number of visitors of over 40,000 people between May and December 2024.

The focus of the exhibition is the history of the impressive headframe, which was one of the most powerful conveying facilities in the German hard coal mining industry at the Germania colliery in Dortmund between 1944 and 1977. After being transported in 1973, it was rebuilt in Bochum and is now the largest exhibit in the museum, measuring over 70 m high and weighing 650 t.

The headframe in motion

Under the subtitle “The headframe in motion,” the exhibition addresses not only the technical, but also the cultural and commemorative dimensions of the industrial heritage. In addition to the technology, the sounds and smells of past working environments are brought to life. An innovative aspect of the exhibition is the thematic structure into three areas: promotion of natural resources, memory and knowledge.

Visitors can look forward to interactive stations such as an “audio shower” with sound recordings, an odor installation that gives the experience of a rope ride, an impressive 270-degree panorama of the Ruhr area and an entertaining drone game to remove rust. For younger guests there is a comic that tells the history of coal mining in a child-friendly way.

Entrance and guided tours

Admission to the exhibition is included in the regular price, but there are tickets for special tours with the exhibition organizers that deepen the experience. These cost 6 EUR (reduced 4 EUR). The exhibition is financially supported by the RAG Foundation and the Association of Friends of the German Mining Museum Bochum e.V., which are committed to the preservation and presentation of industrial heritage.

The renovation of the headframe, which took 333 days, is the reason for the exhibition and illustrates the challenges of conserving and maintaining important industrial monuments. This exhibition also addresses scientific approaches to saving these objects of industrial heritage, while also addressing the threat posed by rust to industrial heritage.

Overall, the special exhibition “Doppelbock auf Museum” attracted a lot of attention and promises to attract many interested people to the German Mining Museum Bochum in the coming years. As the mining museum's website informs, the focus will continue to be on conveying the diverse aspects of mining history and the development of industrial culture.

Further information about the exhibition can be found on the website Bochum tourism and that German Mining Museum Bochum.