History
The Grube Viktoria has its origins in the first shaft sunk at Püttlingen in 1866, at the western edge of the town, to exploit the coal seams in the Köllertal. The mine was founded as a Nebenschachtanlage of the Grube Gerhard; the Grube Gerhard and the Grube Viktoria were connected by the 3,705-metre Veltheimstollen, whose Stollenmundlöcher in Luisenthal and Püttlingen are both well preserved. The name Viktoria honoured Victoria of the United Kingdom (1840–1901), wife of Crown Prince Friedrich of Prussia (later Emperor Friedrich III); it is one of only two Saarland coal mines named after a woman, alongside the Grube Franziska. Schacht Viktoria I was begun in 1866 and completed in 1869. Production began in July 1872, simultaneously with the opening of a 6-kilometre Grubenanschlussbahn connecting the mine with the Bahnhof Völklingen on the Saarbrücken–Trier railway and the Saar shipping route.
Schacht Viktoria II was sunk in 1881. The Aspenschacht, a further shaft, was added in 1891. On 15 September 1902 the Schacht Viktoria III was begun at Engelfangen in the Köllerbach district. By the time Schacht III was in operation, an underground Stollen of 1,250 metres connected the Engelfangen surface complex to the Viktoria I/II complex. During the French administration of the Saargebiet from 1920 to 1935, the mine was given independent status as Grube Viktoria separate from the Grube Gerhard. Schacht Viktoria III was renamed Edward-Schacht under French administration; this name was relinquished when German administration returned in 1935. In October 1964 Schacht Viktoria III was closed.
During the Second World War, the Veltheimstollen was used as a civilian Schutzstollen. On 13 December 1944 an American artillery shell struck a Klärbecken above the Stollenmundloch, causing sludge to inundate the Stollen; 19 people sheltering inside were killed. A Gedenktafel at the Stollenmundloch commemorates this event. The mine was also the site of a seilfahrt accident: on 16 March 1907, miners were killed in the Mathildenschacht at the Grube Viktoria; a granite Denkmal in pfeilerartiger Ausführung commemorates those victims.
The Grube Viktoria was closed in 1963, at which point it was the most significant Kohleförderanlage in the Köllertal. Schacht Viktoria II was retained open for mine water management. In October 2013 the Betriebsfähigkeit of Schacht Viktoria II was ended after fifty years of water pumping: the shaft was filled from the surface down to 60 metres depth with concrete while a narrow pipe remained open to 6,000 m³ per day of Grubenwasser pumping into the Schlehbach. The Tagesanlage Viktoria I/II, including the Fördergerüst of Schacht II, the Fördermaschinenhaus, the Zechenhaus mit Waschkaue (Backsteinbau of 1910, now used as a Gewerbezentrum), the Schalthaus, and the Umformergebäude, was placed under Denkmalschutz as a Gesamtensemble. The Fördermaschinenhaus at Engelfangen — a Sandsteinquaderbau of 1904 with Rundbogenfenster and Lisenengliederung, now used as a Reitstall and Scheune — and the Zechenhaus Engelfangen are also well preserved. The Stollenmundlöcher of the Viktoriastollen are visible on the Engelfangen site. Adjacent to the mine site stands the Bergehalde Viktoria, a prominent Landmarke in the Köllertal with an informal designation Monte Schlacko shared with other Saar Halden; it was incorporated from 1976 into the Erholungsgebiet Espenwald with footpaths to the Haldenplateau and its Gipfelkreuz.