Here we see a section of the coke furnace in Zollverein, one of Germany's most famous coal mines. The pipes directly in front serve the purpose of collecting the gases that come into existence during the burning process, as after cleaning, it can be used to heat the furnace again (Gasvorlage). To our right is the top of the furnace (Ofendecke) and to our left the machine side (Maschinenseite) from which the coke is pushed out towards the right when ready. As you can see by the German terminology, I wasn't able to find proper translations into English. I'll post another pic tomorrow, where one can see the furnace in its entire glory, and where the functions become a little more apparent.

Sadly, many of the pics from back then didn't come out too well, due to the borrowed camera with small memory and dying battery, but hey, bad pics is better than no pics.

This one came out pretty sharp tho, and I played around a little bit to show the heat that must have ruled here once. As we're on top if the furnace, it got very hot when it was running, and it was running 24/7, as otherwise it would become unusable. The greatest respect to the men who worked here, despite the heat, the dirt, the occassional flame, to give the country the coke it needed. Without them, steel production would have been impossible, and the economic revival would have remained a utopistic dream. Of course, the heat is no longer there, the metal feels cold to the touch, but its a monument, it stands for what it once was, and imagination can bring back the feeling from outside. Hence, its not the furnace thats glowing, its everything surrounding it.

What makes this a sad story is the fact that even though this coking plant might have survived demolition, many many others haven't, while much fuss is made about churches and cathedrals that haven't really done anything in the near past to get the country back on its feet after the war.