Das Wissensrevier

20. June 2014 to 22. February 2015

150 Jahre Westfälische Berggewerkschaftskasse/DMT-Gesellschaft für Lehre und Bildung

“Glückauf, der Steiger kommt!” – “The foreman’s coming!”, announces the traditional miners’ song. But where is he coming from? The mining school, of course!

1864 saw the founding of the Westfälische Berggewerkschaftskasse (WBK, Westphalian Miners’ Union Fund), the central training and scientific institution of the Ruhr mining industry. This was later succeeded by the DMT-Gesellschaft für Lehre und Bildung (DMT-LB, German Mining Society for Teaching and Training). Besides training for foremen and apprentices, and a programme of study for engineers, the WBK and DMT-LB dealt with the scientific foundations of mining in the Ruhr district, from research on explosions and the identification of different types of coal to surveying the world (from a mining perspective). The intellectual heritage of the Ruhr mining industry is still alive today, in the Deutsches Bergbau-Museum and the Technische Fachhochschule Georg Agricola, which are both funded by the DMT-LB. We will be presenting a special exhibition to mark the 150th anniversary of the WBK/DMT-LB.