Available from Deutsche Post since 05.01.2023: The special-issue stamp “Zeche Zollverein” in the series “Landmarks in Germany” (Image: Deutsche Post)

The Zollverein colliery is located in Essen, formerly the largest mining city in Europe. Between 1851 and 1986, up to 8,000 miners were employed here, working in shifts above and below ground. When the facilities were shut down, a total of more than 600,000 people had worked there. Shaft 1/2/8, Shaft XII and the coking plant have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001. As an industrial monument, it commemorates an important part of German economic history; as an architectural monument, it reflects the unmistakable signature of the Bauhaus, which earned it the reputation as the most beautiful colliery in the world. Every year, some 1.5 million visitors tour the original preserved surface installations of the colliery and the former production facilities of the coking plant. In addition, not only companies have settled on the site, but also cultural institutions such as the Ruhr Museum and the Folkwang University of the Arts. (Text: German Philately Service, Wermsdorf)

Date of issue: 05.01.2023
Value (in euro cents): 110 cents
Design: The colliery’s winding tower in atmospheric evening light
© Jochen Tack
Design of stamp and postage stamp: Jennifer Dengler, Bonn
Printing: Multicolour offset printing by Bagel Security-Print GmbH & Co. KG, Mönchengladbach on coated white and fluorescent postage stamp paper DP 2
Postage stamp size: 55.00 x 30.00 mm

There will be a first-day postmark from Berlin to go with the new postage stamp and a special postmark for the first day of use in Essen.
Requests for postmarks can be sent to the following address:
Deutsche Post AG
Service and Dispatch Centre Weiden
Special postmark office
DE 92627 Weiden

More information on the Zollverein Colliery can be found on the Internet at https://www.zollverein.de/.