Multiwavelength view of the chimneys. Left panel: red colors show the soft X-ray emission map (1.5–2.6 keV). Green colors show the S XV line emission (2.35–2.56 keV) and blue colors show the MeerKAT map. The S XV line emission shows clear gradients in rough coincidence with the edges of the MeerKAT bubbles. Additionally, it is less affected by interstellar absorption than the soft X-ray emission map (indeed the latter shows clear depressions in the emissivity of the chimneys at b ~ 0.2° and b ~ −0.4−0.6°). Right panel: RGB image of the GC. Red: soft X-ray emission map (1.5–2.6 keV). Green: column density map of neutral material as derived from dust emission of the central molecular zone, derived from Herschel observations (Molinari et al. 2011). The depressions of soft X-ray emission at b ~ 0.2° and b ~ −0.4−0.6° correspond to a high column density of neutral material, probably as a result of enhanced obscuration. We point out that the protrusion at l = 0.2, b = 0.25° (Sect. 3.6) might be associated with a fountain originating from the Sgr B molecular complex, one of the most massive, highly obscured and highest star formation rate locations of the Milky Way. Indeed, although the protrusion appears to be disconnected from the plane in the soft X-ray map (it extends from b ~ 0.2° to b ~ 0.6°), this might be a byproduct of strong obscuration in the Sgr B region. Blue: continuum-subtracted soft X-ray line emission. The continuum subtraction removes the contribution from the dust-scattering haloes around bright point sources, which otherwise dominate the emission west of the southern chimney.