Change

After its decommissioning in 1988, the future of the Gasometer was open and like many relicts of industry it initially seemed faced by demolition. The citizens of Oberhausen, the city council, the Regional government of NRW and the Emscher Park International Building Exhibition intensely discussed whether and how an obsolete gas holder could be used again. At the proposal of the Emscher Park International Building Exhibition, the Gasometer was finally converted into that extraordinary exhibition hall which is today the landmark of the city of Oberhausen.

Conversion took place during the years 1993/94 by Deutsche Babcock AG. At that time the former gas-pressure disc was fixed at a height of 4.50 metres. Below it for the visitor today a circular room with an area of more than 3000 square metres opens to the visitor. Two steel staircases lead up onto the disc in the middle of which a raised stage with a diameter of 20 m was installed. Parts of the supporting structure became a stand with 500 seats. In total, the Gasometer thus has an area that can be used for events covering more than 7000 square metres.

A glass panorama lift offers the opportunity to travel up to just under the roof of the Gasometer. A second lift leads up onto the roof on the outside which can also be reached on foot via 592 steps. From up there, a unique panoramic view of the whole of the western Ruhr can be enjoyed which, during clear weather, extends over 35 kilometres: from the steelworks on the Rhine as far as the stadium of the Schalke football club. Far more than three million visitors have seen this panorama view and have been attracted by the changing exhibitions so far. The Gasometer Oberhausen therefore also represents the vivid structural change.