Places of interest / St. Antony-Hütte

Somewhat hidden on the outskirts of Oberhausen-Osterfeld you’ll find a half-timbered building that is picturesquely mirrored in the pond formed here by the Elpenbach. Although a tourist would not expect to find traces of heavy industry here, this is the site of the only remaining vestige of St. Antony smelting works, the first iron smeltery in the Ruhr region – so to speak, the cradle of the Ruhr industry. Not only was pig iron produced here back in 1758, but St. Antony smelting works' casting house and moulding shop also produced cast iron convenience goods. Today, the residential and administrative building, which was constructed in 1758, is all that’s left. In 1995, the Rheinisches Industriemuseum opened the former home of the foundry master to present valuable items of the archive of the former Gutehoffnungshütte (GHH), including for instance a magnificent collection of photo negatives, 12,000 historic glass plate negatives and whiteprints of historic photos. The history of GHH has been recorded in old photos of the shops and products, in interior photos of the shops and common areas of the company.  In 1999, the Rheinisches Industriemuseum supplemented its programme at St. Antony smelting works by including temporary exhibits. Opening hours by arrangement, appointments must be made for group tours (max. 15 persons) and use of the archive.

In 2008, Oberhausen celebrated the 250th jubilee of the St. Antony smelting works. The Rheinisches Industriemuseum took this opportunity to open a permanent exhibition in the former directors' residence, documenting the history of the first iron smelting works in the Ruhr Area. Parallel to this, excavations took place on the site, and now on 19 June 2010, the first industrial archaeology park in Germany will be unveiled. In the Capitel of Culture Year, from 25 July to 30 November 2010, in the Altenberg zinc factory and in the Oberhausen museum depot, also known as the Peter Behrens Building, the Rheinisches Industriemuseum will be showing its largest ever international exhibition: "Feuerländer - Regions of Vulcan". 200 paintings tell the tale of heavy industrial work from the perspective of art between 1800 and the present day. The "Eisen.Straße" (Iron Road) is a new local cycle path that interconnects all the sites of the Industrial Museum in Oberhausen.