The winding tower of the Hanover colliery rises into the sky like a medieval castle tower. It is a monument visible from afar in the north of Bochum.
Even contemporaries were impressed by the defiant architecture. The showpiece inside the machine hall is the steam hoisting machine from 1893, the oldest example to have survived at an original location in the Ruhr region. This dinosaur of technology is set in motion during demonstrations. The atmosphere of hard work characterizes the interior of the mighty Malakow tower from 1857. This is where the miners drove into the 750-metre-deep shaft, where the coal came to the surface from the depths - until the Hannover colliery closed in 1973 as the last mine in Bochum.
For some years now, culture instead of coal has been mined at Hannover Colliery. Special exhibitions and events - from a big steam festival to a boules tournament - attract visitors to the industrial museum during the summer months. The attraction for young visitors is the children's mine Zeche Knirps. Here, girls and boys can playfully learn about the workings of a mine.
The museum includes three workers' houses with gardens typical of the period.
