Building 155
Hardening workshop
Built in about 1930, not a monument
Past
Former incinerator and hardening workshop. Here, metal tools and weapon components the composition of which had been altered by prior heating were hardened. The plastic roof was installed as a temporary measure when the original concrete roof began to crumble, presenting a hazard. Nobody had foreseen that this would create such a unique light effect in the space below.
A former employee recalls: ‘One evening, in the hardening workshop, we’d just put the coffee on to brew when a guard came and asked: ‘hear that, the flames coming from the roof?’ Well no, we hadn’t, that was really serious. A whole load of fire engines rolled up and I soon acquired a nickname: pyromaniac. The guard could have called them sooner, because the roof had already gone up in flames.’
Present
This building now houses the Museum of Humanity, an exhibition that is the brainchild of Ruben Timman.
More information: https://www.museumofhumanity.nl/
Pot hook from the hardening workshop
Long pieces of metalwork, such as grenades or shells, were brought into the vertical furnaces with the help of pot hooks made of heat-resistant steel.
