Vockerode power station
The historic industrial monument forms an exciting visual contrast to the surrounding nature of the Middle Elbe Biosphere Reserve.
For many decades, its four large smokestacks were reliable landmarks, seemingly built to last forever. The Vockerode lignite-fired power plant was an employer and energy provider for the people in the Central German lignite mining region.
The "stranded steamer on the Elbe", so called because of its impressive dimensions and building shape, went online in December 1938, after only one and a half years of construction. Just under 60 years later, the Vockerode power plant was decommissioned in 1994.
Still - even after the demolition of the four huge chimneys in 2001 and the closure to visitor traffic for safety reasons - the "stranded steamer" characterizes the landscape and testifies to a rich industrial history.
1937: commissioning of the power plant
1939: second stage of expansion completed
1945: Start of dismantling and demolition works down to the foundation walls and two inclined belt bridges with coal bunkers
1950: Reconstruction of the power plant as one of the first in the GDR
1967: Construction of the district heating supply facilities
1994: Shutdown of the power plant
1998: Site of the Saxony-Anhalt state exhibition
1999: Exhibition "unter strom
1999 - 2009: Performances of the play "Marquis de Sade
2001: Blasting of the four chimneys
