The oil shale slag heap next to the Messel Pit fossil site

(ISO 100, f8 @ 27mm, 1/400sec., 10:41)

I went there to take images from the Messel pit, a disused quarry which was the first German natural monument declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1995 (one of the few sites that have ever been placed on the list exclusively due to fossils).
Books have been written about this site and it almost ended as a waste disposal landfill a few years earlier.
So I was very excited to come here and see it with my own eyes. And it didn’t dissapoint.
If you are in the area, it is well worth a visit.

Nevertheless when I left the place the light suddenly changed in a dramatic way and the slag heap right next to the Messel pit appeared to me visually a lot more attractive than the actual heritage site. So here it is and not quite what I intented to bring home in the first place…