The Ruhr Museum at the Zollverein Colliery in Essen, Germany

The Zollverein coalmine complex in Essen, Germany, has become a powerful symbol of the new Ruhr area. With the recent opening of the Ruhr Museum in the coal washing plant of the colliery, the site serves now as a spectacular backdrop for the story of the largest industrial agglomeration in Europe, the Ruhrgebiet. At this former distribution hub for the raw material that fueled Germany's industrial age, the museum presents the seamless continuity of natural and cultural history from the carbon age up to today. The first part of the exhibition, called "Contemporary Phenomena," presents a panorama of scenes of the culture and nature of the region, displaying hundreds of photographs. The second part, ! dblquote Memory," is devoted to the region's preindustrial history from prehistoric times up to the eighteenth century. The final part returns to the region's industrialization, its dramatic rise and fall in under two centuries.