History
Documented coal extraction in the area of the later Grube Itzenplitz reaches back to the fifteenth century, when urkundliche sources refer to 'brennende Steine' in the forests between Heiligenwald, Merchweiler, and Bildstock. The Pingenfelder preserved in the Naherholungsraum Itzenplitz today are the visible remnants of this early Pingen- and Stollenbetrieb. The Prussian state mine was formally founded in 1857, associated from the outset with the adjacent Grube Reden; in the same year a Bahnstrecke of approximately 1.9 kilometres was constructed from Reden to Itzenplitz to facilitate coal transport. In 1860 the first Tiefbauschacht, Itzenplitz I, was begun. The mine received its definitive name in 1863 when Graf Heinrich August Friedrich von Itzenplitz (1799–1883), who served simultaneously as Prussian Handelsminister and as the supreme administrator of Berg-, Hütten- und Salinenwesen, visited and consecrated the colliery.
Schacht II (the Itzenplitzschacht II) was sunk in 1872 to the Redensohle. In the years following, a Zechenhaus, a Schreinerei, and a Schmiedewerkstatt were built. In 1878/79 the Itzenplitzer Weiher was constructed with a Pumpenhaus, providing the water pressure required to power the Dampfmaschinen for hoisting; the Pumpenhaus visible today was rebuilt in 1908 as a verputzter Rundbau on a Sandsteinsockel. In 1886 Schacht III was sunk and equipped with a 13-metre Fachwerk headframe built by the Neunkirchen Stahlbaufirma Eduard Böcking — a feingliedrige Stahlfachwerkkonstruktion that has survived almost unchanged and is today recognised as the oldest surviving Seilscheibengerüst in the Saarland, and probably in all of Saarbergbau. The associated Fördermaschinenhaus of Schacht III used glasierte Backsteine in a Hanglage construction requiring a substantial Sandsteinsockel. In 1894/95 a Kohlenwäsche was erected; in 1910 the Grube received a new Kaue which also accommodated the necessary administrative rooms, a two-part brick building with a mansard Satteldach with Belüfterkuppel.
From 1920 the mine was under French administration and all assets passed to the Mines Domaniales Françaises de la Sarre. In 1935 they reverted to German ownership. In 1940 the transformation of the Bergwerk Reden into a Großschachtanlage resulted in the integration of the Itzenplitzer Rohförderung underground: coal was from that point haulaged underground to Reden, raised at the Reden surface complex, and prepared there. In 1942/43 the Rätterhalle and the Kohlenwäsche at Itzenplitz were demolished as no longer needed.
After the Second World War the Grube Itzenplitz experienced a final upturn before being closed as an independent Bergwerk in 1958 and merged into the Bergwerk Reden. The Itzenplitz Tagesanlage then continued as an Außenanlage of Reden for Seilfahrt and materials transport. In 1957 a new Fördergerüst — a Deutsches Strebengerüst in Vollwandprofil-Bauweise — was erected over Schacht II, together with a Schachthalle and Fördermaschinenhaus in Stahlskelettbauweise with Backsteinausfachung. The two surviving headframes — 1886 and 1957 — stand on different Geländeterrassen, representing two distinct construction eras, the older in the upper Hangbereich together with the historic Schalthaus and the newer on the lower terrace. The Tagesanlage Itzenplitz was used as an Außenanlage until the late 1990s, when the Grube Reden was itself successively merged into the Verbundbergwerk Ost and finally closed; the Schachtanlage Itzenplitz was placed out of service by the end of the 1990s.
The denkmalgeschützte Ensemble of the Schachtanlage Itzenplitz includes the 1886 headframe over Schacht III, the 1957 Vollwandprofil headframe over Schacht II, both associated Fördermaschinenhäuser, the 1910 Kaue building (restored and now used for events and other functions by the Förderverein Historische Grubenanlage Itzenplitz e.V.), the Schalthaus, and the Pumpenhaus at the Itzenplitzer Weiher. The site is part of the Naherholungsgebiet Itzenplitz and of the Naturschutzgroßprojekt Landschaft der Industriekultur Nord (LIK.Nord), which includes paths between the Gruben Reden and Itzenplitz. The RAG-Stiftung and the state of Saarland have co-financed conservation works at the Weiher and the Pumpenhaus. The Grube Itzenplitz is also one of the three Schwerpunkträume of Industriekultur in the Saarland, alongside the Grube Reden and the Völklinger Hütte.