Zeche und Kokerei Zollverein

Voor de meesten van ons staat het Ruhrgebiet synoniem voor zware industrie en grootstedelijke treurigheid. En als achtergrond voor de avonturen van de Duisburgse Tatortheld Horst Schimanski. Maar schijn bedriegt. De "Kohlenpott" is het bekijken meer dan waard.

In de tijd van de Industriële revolutie groeide het Ruhrgebied uit tot één van de grootste industriegebieden in Europa. In eerste instantie werden er vooral steenkoolmijnen en staalindustrie aangetroffen, later kwamen er andere industrietakken bij zoals machinebouw en elektronica.

Veel van de zware industrie is tegenwoordig verdwenen.Sinds de jaren '60 nam de vraag naar steenkool af en groeide het besef van milieuverontreiniging. Het gevolg hiervan was dat de er meer ruimte kwam voor recreatie en natuur en veel fabrieken en mijnen werden gesloten of omgebouwd tot museum.

Een van die musea is Die Zeche Zollverein. Dit is een stilgelegde Steenkoolmijn in het noorden van Essen. Sins december 2001 behoort de Kolenmijn Zollverein XII en de nabijgelegen cokesfabriek tot het wereldefgoed van Unesco. Zollverein is onderdeel van de Europese Route van Industriecultuur(ERIH)

Meer foto's op: http://www.flickr.com/photos/89343161@N00/

Filmtip uit het archief: The Sweet Hereafter (1997)

The Sweet Hereafter is a novel (1991) written by U.S. author Russell Banks; and an award-winning film (1997) by Canadian director Atom Egoyan, who also wrote the screenplay.
Banks's novel is a multiple first person narrative depicting life in a small town in Upstate New York in the wake of a terrible school bus accident in which numerous local children are killed. Hardly able to cope with the loss, their grieving parents are approached by a slick city lawyer who wants them to sue for damages. At first the parents are reluctant to do so, but eventually they are persuaded by the lawyer that filing a class action lawsuit would ease their minds and also be the right thing to do.

As most of the children are dead, the case now depends on the few surviving witnesses to say the right things in court. In particular, it is 15 year-old Nichole Burnell, who was sitting at the front of the bus and is now paralysed from the waist down, whose deposition is all-important. However, she unexpectedly accuses Dolores Driscoll, the driver, of speeding and thus causing the accident. When she does so, all hopes of ever receiving money are thwarted. All the people involved know that Nichole is lying but cannot do anything about it. Only her father knows why, but he is unable to publicly reveal his daughter's motives.

Gelezen: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

"J.K. Rowling has pulled it off. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has delivered a satisfying finale to the magical epic. The story takes off at a cracking pace, launching directly into an action scene with the lean professionalism of a Bond film. There's no mucking about - Rowling knows that readers and characters alike have been waiting impatiently.

As expected, Harry, Ron and Hermione do not return to Hogwarts, but begin their search for Voldemort's remaining horcruxes, the little fragments of his soul he has hidden to ensure his survival.

Just as Harry has left boarding school, so Rowling has left boarding-school stories. We are in a war zone now: Voldemort and the death eaters against Harry and the Order of the Phoenix - with the muggles coming in for attack as well."