Former Ruhr hard coal colliery whose preserved Schupp-designed pithead buildings at Schacht 1/2 form the centrepiece of the Nordsternpark, an open public landscape park open daily without charge.
Zeche Nordstern in Gelsenkirchen-Horst traces its beginnings to coal exploration in the 1850s, the initial Gewerkschaft Blücher, and the formation in 1866 of a new Gewerkschaft under the name Nordstern. Schacht 1 entered production in 1868. The mine passed through ownership by the Phönix AG für Bergbau und Hüttenbetrieb (acquired 1907), the Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG (from 1926), and the Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-AG (from 1934), before entering the Ruhrkohle AG in 1968.
The two-shaft divisions Nordstern 1/2 and 3/4 operated at varying stages; both were briefly closed in 1925 during post-war economic crisis. From 1951 to 1953 the Nordstern 1/2 site was comprehensively rebuilt to designs by Fritz Schupp. The mine merged with Zeche Zollverein in 1982 to form Verbundbergwerk Nordstern-Zollverein, which was closed in 1986; the Nordstern shafts were subsequently operated by Zeche Consolidation until the last production shift on 28 February 1993.
All four shafts were backfilled and the Schacht 3/4 site was cleared. The Schupp-designed surface installations at Nordstern 1/2 were listed in 1995 and became the centrepiece of the Bundesgartenschau 1997, after which the site was permanently established as the Nordsternpark. The Nordsternturm, the former Schacht 2 headframe tower, was extended in 2009–10 and now hosts a public viewing platform and an exhibition.
In 1855 several coalfield concessions in the Horst area north of the Emscher were consolidated under the name Blücher I–III. The resulting Gewerkschaft Blücher began sinking a first shaft at Blücher III in 1857 but was forced to abandon it due to excessive water ingress. A second attempt at Blücher I in 1858 south-west of the village of Horst was also stunded in 1860 when the Gewerkschaft became insolvent.
In 1860 the Essen-Arenberger Bergbau-Gesellschaft was formed as a joint-stock company taking over the capital of the Gewerkschaft Blücher. Under the influence of the entrepreneur Friedrich Grillo a new Gewerkschaft was constituted in 1866 under the name Steinkohlenbergwerk Nordstern, reflecting its status as the northernmost mine in the Ruhr at that time. The refurbished Schacht 1, which received a Malakowturm, was brought into production in 1868, extracting gas-flame and flame coal of good quality.
Between 1890 and 1892 Schacht 2 was sunk alongside Schacht 1 as a ventilation shaft; the double-shaft configuration of Nordstern 1/2 was thereby established. Production grew steadily, reaching 850,000 tonnes annually. In 1907 the Steinkohlenbergwerk Nordstern AG was acquired by the Phönix AG für Bergbau und Hüttenbetrieb.
The new owner undertook extensive development; a new headframe was inserted into the Malakowturm on Schacht 1. Between 1910 and 1911 Schacht 4 was sunk alongside Schacht 3, completing a separate and autonomous winding shaft division at Nordstern 3/4. In 1912 a coal washing plant was built on the 3/4 site by the firm Wiemer & Trachte.
In 1915 a coking plant was commissioned at Nordstern 1/2 in response to the heightened wartime demand for coke; by that year annual output had reached 1.5 million tonnes. In 1925, following post-war economic difficulties and acute sales problems driven by the inflationary environment, both Nordstern shaft divisions were closed. In 1926 the assets of the Phönix AG passed into the Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG, and the Nordstern coalfield was assigned to that company's Gelsenkirchen group.
Production at Nordstern 1/2 was resumed, taking advantage of the favourable geology, and a new central coking plant with 200 ovens was built at the Rhein-Herne-Kanal south of the Nordstern 1/2 site from 1928 onwards. Upon its commissioning the original coking plant at Nordstern 1/2 was closed. Between 1937 and 1939 what was described at the time as the world's largest gas holder was constructed on the Nordstern site by the firm Aug.
Klönne; with a total height of 149 metres, a diameter of 80 metres, and a capacity of 600,000 cubic metres, it was associated with the adjacent Gelsenberg hydrogenation works. On 20 May 1940 the gas holder was struck by a bomb and damaged so severely that it had to be demolished. In 1934 the Vereinigte Stahlwerke separated its mining interests into the newly reconstituted Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-AG (GBAG).
Production on Nordstern 3/4 was resumed in 1936 following reorganisation; combined output stood at 1.6 million tonnes annually. In 1944 and 1945 both shaft sites were heavily damaged by aerial bombing; the mine was again temporarily closed in 1945. After the end of the war coal production was gradually resumed from late 1945.
Between 1951 and 1953 the Nordstern 1/2 site was comprehensively rebuilt to designs by the architect Fritz Schupp, who had earlier worked on Nordstern buildings since 1926 and would achieve international fame through the Zollverein 12 complex. Over Schacht 1 a full-web strut headframe was erected; over Schacht 2 an enclosed headframe tower with two-rope skip hoisting was built. Processing installations were entirely renewed.
The Schacht 2 tower, with its winding machinery enclosed within thin steel-and-clinker brick curtain walls and no longer visible from outside, was technically and architecturally distinctive in the Ruhr. The Nordstern 1/2 site was redesigned as the central winding facility and from 1956 took over completely the production function of Nordstern 3/4. In 1966 the GBAG decided to close the central coking plant in the following year, due to acute sales difficulties for coke.
In 1968 the mine was taken over by the newly formed Ruhrkohle AG and assigned to the Bergbau AG Gelsenkirchen. During the 1970s several coalfields of closed neighbouring mines were assigned to Nordstern and extracted via Schacht 1/2; the combined field was named Emschermulde. By 1981 output had reached 1.9 million tonnes with 3,254 miners.
In 1981 a new rationalisation plan for the Ruhr coalfield was adopted. In 1982 Zeche Nordstern was merged with Zeche Zollverein to form the Verbundbergwerk Nordstern-Zollverein; all production was concentrated at the Zollverein 12 shaft. The Nordstern shafts were retained as intermediate hoisting and passenger transport points.
In 1983 the former Wilhelmine Victoria 1/4 coalfield was taken out of service and backfilled. The Verbundbergwerk Nordstern-Zollverein was closed in 1986. The Nordstern shafts subsequently passed to Zeche Consolidation, which continued to operate them for ventilation and access purposes until the last production shift on 28 February 1993.
All four shafts were backfilled and the Nordstern 3/4 site was completely cleared. The Nordstern 1/2 surface installations were placed under monument protection on 20 February 1995. In 1990 Gelsenkirchen had been awarded the Bundesgartenschau for 1997, the first such event on a former industrial brownfield, and planning and design preparations were carried out in 1991–96.
The Bundesgartenschau ran from 19 April to 5 October 1997, attracting 1.6 million visitors. The Schupp buildings, headframes, a coal bunker with transport bridges, and other surviving elements were integrated into the park design. After the BUGA the area was permanently opened to the public as the Nordsternpark, freely accessible at all times.
The former Schacht 2 headframe tower, known as the Nordsternturm, was extended in 2009–10 in the context of the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010: four glass storeys were added, bringing the total height to approximately 103 metres. On the topmost level a public viewing terrace was installed at 83 metres; the tower was crowned with an 18-metre monumental sculpture, the Herkules von Gelsenkirchen, created by Markus Lüpertz. Within the tower a video art centre was established, later converted into a multimedia exhibition on the history of the site entitled Wandel is immer.
The former Nordstern 1/2 pithead buildings serve as the headquarters of the housing company VIVAWEST GmbH. The park is an anchor point on the Route der Industriekultur. A 63-metre demonstration mine tunnel, built by apprentices from Bergwerk Hugo/Consolidation for the 1997 Bundesgartenschau, is maintained by former Nordstern miners and is open to visitors.