Zeche Bonifacius

The Bonifacius Colliery was a major hard coal mine in Essen's Kray district, with a history dating back to 1851, when several mining partnerships merged their mining fields. After the first shaft was sunk in 1857, production began in 1861 and was greatly expanded thanks to a railway connection and, later, conversion into a stock corporation. The operation had its ups and downs, including flooding, accidents, and fires that temporarily brought work to a standstill. In 1899, the mine was taken over by Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-AG, marking the start of a new era. Over the following decades, the complex was modernized, fitted with electric hoisting machines, and expanded to include a coking plant and a briquette factory. Despite economic crises and the closure of individual units, the colliery remained productive and, in the 1930s, with thousands of employees and high output, reached a top position in the industry.

After World War II, the colliery was put back into operation and modernized further, including the construction of a new ventilation shaft and the use of a narrow-gauge railway to transport materials. The complex also had a streetcar connection, which allowed coal to be shipped to the region. With the coal crisis and the consolidation of the mining landscape, the Bonifacius Colliery was linked with the Holland Colliery in 1967, and production was concentrated at the Holland facilities. The mining fields were finally abandoned in the early 1980s, after the shafts had been integrated into the Zollverein Colliery network.

Today, the colliery grounds are a lively place for culture and dining. The historic headframe above Shaft 1 has been preserved, along with numerous operational buildings that are being put to new use as part of a business park concept. Especially well known is the former pay hall, with its neo-Gothic facade and cathedral-like interior, which for a long time served as a cultural and conference hotel. In the courtyard of the shaft complex is a beer garden, whose restaurant is housed in the former electrical workshop. Other historic buildings, such as the turbine hall, now house cultural venues and businesses that carry the site's industrial past into the present.