Preserved and protected brick-clad headframe of the former Helenenschacht brown coal mine at Ritzing, Burgenland, now serving as an artists' atelier and residence.
The Kunst-Förderturm Helenenschacht at Ritzing in the Bezirk Oberpullendorf, Burgenland, is the surviving and monument-protected headframe of the Helenenschacht, a brown coal mine that formed part of the Brennberger Kohlenrevier straddling the Austrian-Hungarian border in the Ödenburger Gebirge. The Helenenschacht was sunk in 1882 and named after Helene Flandorfer of the operating family. At its greatest extent the shaft reached approximately 345 to 380 metres depth.
The site formed part of a wider coalfield operated jointly with Brennberg (today Brennbergbánya in Hungary), which was active from around the mid-eighteenth century until 1955. The headframe was unusually encased in a brick outer shell in 1914–15 by Italian prisoners of war, a technique uncommon in Austria. Following final closure of the mine in 1955 and filling of the shaft in 1986, the headframe fell into disrepair.
It was purchased in 1991 by Gerhard Bogner and restored. The structure is the oldest designated industrial monument (Industriedenkmal) in Burgenland. From January 2021 the Förderturm and associated buildings have served as atelier and residence for the artists' collective Helenenschacht 5.
Brown coal extraction in the area of Ritzing in the Burgenland (Ödenburger Gebirge) belongs geologically to the Brennberger Kohlenrevier, centred on Brennberg (today Brennbergbánya), near the city of Ödenburg (Sopron) in Hungary. This was one of the most historically significant coal-producing areas on what became the Austro-Hungarian border, described as active for approximately 200 years from around 1750 to 1950 in the wider sense, with the site-specific operations concluding in 1955. The coalfield in the Ritzing area was discovered in the mid-eighteenth century on Esterházy estate land, and early small opencast workings began in the second half of that century. The first shaft at Ritzing — the Ignazschacht — was sunk in 1862 by the Ödenburger operators Schwarz and Paul Flandorfer. Around 1870 a small workers' settlement developed around the colliery.
In 1882 the Helenenschacht was sunk and named after Helene Flandorfer (born Bauer), wife of the operating family. The shaft was deepened progressively, reaching approximately 345 to 380 metres depth according to different sources, with the shaft being two years later expanded and lined with masonry. By 1884–85, Albert Gröger had taken on the operation with 12 workers. In 1888 the Brennberger Kohlenbergbau-Actien-Gesellschaft took over both the Ritzinger and Brennberger operations, which by around 1900 employed 820 workers combined. Production in this period benefited from the growth demand associated with the Ringstraßenzeit in Vienna, when large quantities of coal were required for construction and industry.
An aerial ropeway (Seilbahn) was built to transport coal from the Helenenschacht to the main Brennberg processing site. In 1895 a joint-stock company was formed for the Ritzinger operation; by 1896 production had risen substantially. In 1898 the company was forced to cease operations for financial reasons; subsequent operators included a Berlin-based entrepreneur from 1898, followed by a sale to a Mr Douglas in 1899. The Ritzinger company was liquidated in 1902 after further changes of operator. In 1902 a tunnel breakthrough was achieved connecting the Ritzinger workings to the Sopronschacht, the principal and central shaft of the Brennberger Revier, after which the Helenenschacht was temporarily put out of production as a winding shaft, with only a maintenance presence retained.
From 1909 the Ritzinger mine experienced a revival under a new joint-stock company formed with participation from the sugar factory owners of Siegendorf (Cinfalva), Draßburg (Darufalva), and Großzinkendorf (Nagycenk). At this period approximately 60 miners' families are estimated to have lived in the colliery settlement. During the First World War, in 1914–15, the headframe of the Helenenschacht was encased in a brick outer structure by Italian prisoners of war, a method applied for safety reasons and unusual in Austrian practice. Following the complete collapse of the Sopronschacht in 1918, the Helenenschacht regained particular importance as the main winding installation for the coalfield.
The post-First World War border settlement of 1921 divided the Brennberg and Ritzing operations: Brennberg fell to Hungary, while Ritzing and the Helenenschacht remained within Austria. However, the legal situation was initially complex: as of 8 May 1923, the Austrian parliament was informed that despite being on Austrian territory, the Helenenschacht area was subject to Hungarian mining law, its workers to Hungarian labour legislation, and Austria had no right to grant prospecting rights on its own territory there. The Republic of Austria eventually conceded to Hungary the right of extraction in the area until 1963. The Urikany-Zsilthaler Ungarische Kohlenbergwerks-AG from Fünfkirchen (Pécs) took over the lease and extracted coal until 1930, using the aerial ropeway to transport it to Brennberg for sorting. From 1930 the Helenenschacht served only as a ventilation shaft. By 1936 it had ceased even that function.
A post-war attempt to revive coal extraction in the Ritzing area began in 1946 through Tagbau (opencast) methods, with the Genossenschaftsverband der landwirtschaftlichen Genossenschaften as operator and a reopening ceremony attended by senior Burgenland officials in 1948. An additional shaft — the Antonischacht — was used to employ some of the workers made redundant by the closure of the Brennberg border crossing in 1952. However, persistent problems with high rock pressure on the tunnels and water inflows, together with the need for high subsidies, made the operation unviable. The mine was definitively closed in 1955 (or 1957 according to some sources). In 1947 a disaster at the mine killed 17 miners.
Following closure, the colliery settlement began to decline and most working families left. A community described in 1967 as "abandoned to decay" had formerly been a thriving mining village. In 1986 the Helenenschacht was filled with earth on the instruction of the Bezirkshauptmannschaft, and the shaft crown was sealed with a concrete slab. The headframe — the oldest designated industrial monument in Burgenland — had been progressively falling into ruin. In 1991 Gerhard Bogner purchased the derelict structure and began a careful private restoration that continued over subsequent decades.
A memorial for the victims of the Iron Curtain — recalling the border incidents and deaths associated with the nearby heavily guarded Austrian-Hungarian border — was inaugurated beside the Förderturm on 14 November 2009, bearing the names of Josef Fassl (died 26 September 1949) and Katharina Zutz (died 21 June 1960).
From January 2021 the Förderturm and surrounding buildings at Helenenschacht 5, Ritzing, passed to the artists' collective Helenenschacht 5, who use the protected structure as an atelier, residence, and creative base. The site is described by Bildende Kunst Burgenland as the oldest designated industrial monument in Burgenland. The Waldschule Helenenschacht, located approximately 800 metres south of the Förderturm and opened in 1923, survives as a youth camp and Pfadfinder (scout) centre, and was certified as the first Pfadfinderzentrum in Austria to receive the gold quality seal.