Zeche Zollverein — Schachtanlage 1/2/8 Essen · Nordrhein-Westfalen · Germany

The founding of the Zeche Zollverein derived from the prospecting work of the Duisburg industrialist Franz Haniel, who from the mid-1830s was searching for coking coal in the northern Essen area. In 1834 he succeeded in penetrating the Mergelschicht at Essen-Schönebeck, identifying the coal-bearing strata. Prospecting in the Katernberg area located a particularly rich seam, which was named after the Deutscher Zollverein. In January 1847 the fourteen concession fields were consolidated. The land for the first shaft was provided by the co-owner Schwartmann, known as Bullmann, giving the site its name, the Bullmannaue — a designation preserved in the modern street name of the approach road to Schachtanlage 1/2/8.

Sinking of Schacht 1 began on 18 February 1847 under the mine manager Joseph Oertgen, after whom a street in the Kolonie Ottekampshof in Katernberg was later named. The coal-bearing stratum was expected at 130 metres depth, but water ingress prevented production until 1851. In 1850 Schacht 2 was sunk alongside Schacht 1 to regulate the water flows; it came into operation in 1852. The first Zollverein coals went to market on 1 March 1851. The founding shaft complex, lying between the Köln-Mindener Eisenbahn to the north and the surrounding Katernberg district, also included a Malakowturm, making it one of a very small number of shaft installations in the Ruhr to carry a double Malakowturm over the two founding shafts.

The site was expanded progressively as the mine grew. By 1895 the mine had four shaft installations with a total of nine shafts. When the new Zentralförderschacht XII opened in 1932, absorbing the production of all other shaft facilities, Schachtanlage 1/2/8 was substantially reduced by demolition: the Malakowanlage and numerous other surface structures were removed, leaving little trace of the original arrangement.

To support the planned expansion of the Kokerei Zollverein and the massive increase in output required of Schacht XII, Schachtanlage 1/2/8 itself needed renewal in the 1950s and 1960s. Schacht 1 was entirely rebuilt between 1956 and 1958 to provide capacity relief for Schacht XII during the construction of the Kokerei. The reconstruction of the Schacht 2/8/11 facility followed from 1960 to 1964, also designed by Fritz Schupp. Schacht 2 received a new winding tower and associated shaft hall and wagon circuit between 1964 and 1966; by 1966 it had reached the 14th level at 1,005 metres depth. The current headframe over Schacht 1 dates from 1957. The winding tower over Schacht 2, dating from 1964, was originally built by Fritz Schupp for the Zeche Friedlicher Nachbar in Bochum in 1950, dismantled after that mine's closure, and reassembled at Zollverein in 1964. The dominant architectural character of Schachtanlage 1/2/8 as it survives today reflects these steel and steel-frame structures of Fritz Schupp from the period 1956 to 1964.

The Zeche Zollverein was closed on 23 December 1986. Schachtanlage 1/2/8, together with Schachtanlage XII and the Kokerei Zollverein, was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 14 December 2001. The inscription described the complex as an outstanding industrial monument and exceptional examples of the application of the design concepts of the Modern Movement in an entirely industrial context.

The former Waschkaue of Schachtanlage 1/2/8, a pithead bathhouse designed for 3,000 workers, was discovered by choreographers in the early 1990s as a performance venue. It was progressively converted into a centre for contemporary dance and became the PACT Zollverein choreographic centre in 1997. The overall complex of Schachtanlage 1/2/8 together with the adjacent Schachtanlage XII and Kokerei formed the spatially largest mine site in the Ruhr area.