SymbolEffect
Just 4,000 people lived in Bochum when, in 1842, a certain Jacob Mayer made a decision of lasting consequence for the town. Mayer, an entrepreneur, established here his "Gussstahlfabrik Mayer und Kühne" foundry, bringing the industrial revolution to the nascent city. Very soon, the company name changed to "Bochumer Verein für Gussstahlfabrikation", and the site rapidly filled with plant and machinery. Before the present-day Jahrhunderthalle joined them, it was used in 1902 by Bochumer Verein as an exhibition pavilion at an industrial and commercial exhibition in Düsseldorf, the so-called "Mini World's Fair". Architect Heinrich Schumacher's brief was to design an exhibition hall that could subsequently be used on the company's plant site. And so it was - in 1903, the imposing structure was relocated to Bochum.
Hiroshima Peace Bells from Bochumer Verein
The future hall, as a powerhouse, was literally to supply the energy for the company's further expansion. By 1920, Bochumer Verein employed 17,000 persons, a figure rising later to some 22,000. The bell for the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the Century Bell for Saint Paul's Church, in Frankfurt, and the Peace Bells for Hiroshima, are perhaps the company's most celebrated products. Bochumer Verein was one of Germany's largest arms producers in both world wars, activities superseded after 1945 by steel products for peaceful applications. The merger creating "Friedrich Krupp Hüttenwerke AG" took place in 1965; three years later, the last of the blast furnaces were run down, and the powerhouse machinery broken up.
Much more than an industrial relic
Following closure of the steel plant, the City of Bochum and the State of NRW began a search for rational utilisation of this enormous site. The acquisition of the around 34.5 hectares of land by the Landesentwicklungsgesellschaft NRW (LEG) development corporation in the late eighties set the path for redevelopment. Renowned planning consultancies were briefed, in the context of a workshop, to draft a concept for the site and area. The first use of the Jahrhunderthalle Bochum as a performing venue took place in 1991, with a joint concert by the Bochum Symphony and Leipzig's Radio-Philharmonie orchestras. Even then, with the building still unrestored, one thing became very clear: this venue is much more than a mere industrial relic.
Celebrated focal point of the Ruhrtriennale
The significance of the Jahrhunderthalle Bochum in the cultural life of the region grew steadily in the years that followed. Acquiring listed-building status, the Jahrhunderthalle Bochum became one of the principal features on the "Route der lndustriekultur" tour of the industrial archaeology of the Ruhr, linking fifty-two outstanding "survivors" from the industrial age. Plans for conversion of the Jahrhunderthalle Bochum took on more specific shape upon the opening in 1999 of the surrounding Westpark. An architectural competition was launched; the winning entry, by Petzinka-Pink, of Düsseldorf, was based on the idea of using this cathedral of industry as a venue for the Ruhrtriennale; the Jahrhunderthalle Bochum has been the main stage complex for this international festival since 2003. Thanks to acclaimed RuhrTriennale productions, such as Mozart's "Magic Flute", Messiaen's "Saint François d'Assise", Claudel's "Silk Shoe", the celebrated 2006 restaging of Bernd Alois Zimmermann's imposing opera "The soldiers", and the 2009 production of the opera "Moses and Aaron", it has now become one of the leading contemporary festival theatres, attracting innumerable visitors to Bochum from around the globe every year.
Celebs, Awards & Co.
Together with the Westpark, the Jahrhunderthalle is now also a popular destination for walkers and cyclists. Every year witnesses a range of top award ceremonies on the German music scene, including the "EinsLive-Krone", interspersed with national-level party congresses attended by leading politicians and corporate entertainment events. The Jahrhunderthalle is thus far more than a tangible symbol of the Ruhr's structural transformation - it is, with its unique aura, no less a beacon lighting up the region's future.
