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Excursions above ground and in the mine shafts
The Museum of Mines is 15 minutes' drive from Sterzing, at the end of the Ridnauntal, where the enrichment plant used to be. Guided tours, lasting about one-and-half hours, give a vivid and thorough idea of 800 years of mining. Special guided tours, with experiments, are available for certain groups.
The Museum of Mines at Ridnaun is accessible to the handicapped, and includes the following sectors:
> demonstration gallery
> exhibition halls
> enrichment plant
> open-air area
Demonstration gallery
This shaft, 200 m long, has been specially prepared with 22 niches, demonstrating the various techniques for extracting ore, from Medieval times until today.
Exhibition halls
The five halls, which may be visited without a guide, illustrate the following main themes:
> Minerals and geology
> Life-size models of men and their draught animals, rail transport of ore, manual sorting
> Miners' lighting and equipment
> Miners' customs, clothes, and leisure
> The giantess of Ridnaun
> Videos in projector room
Visitors can also punch out their own souvenir coins in silver or bronze, and have a look at the archives of the Schneeberg mine.
Enrichment plant
This plant is activated during guided tours. The best pieces of crushed silver, lead and zinc ore may be taken away (see also page 125).
Open-air area
On display in this area of the Museum of Mines are the remains of the impressive ore transport system of past centuries. Some original stretches of mule-tracks, railed elevator tracks, pulley platforms and the cableway can be visited.
Starting from the Museum of Mines at Ridnaun, two excursions may be made in the mine, differing in distance to be walked and degree of difficulty.
Short tour
This excursion first includes a guided tour of the Museum of Mines at Ridnaun. After a rest at midday, visitors become miners, putting on complete equipment (helmet with lamp, waterproof jacket and boots). Then the group takes the coach to the Lazzacher Tal, at an altitude of 2,000 m. The trip continues with a journey through the Poschhaus gallery, 3.5 km long, to the deposit. At this point, an interesting and adventurous tour begins, lasting one-and-a-half to two hours, through the original dark galleries and shafts, through water, and along very narrow spaces (NOT for claustrophobics!) Picks and hammers may be used to to detach pieces of silver, lead and zinc ore. The return journey is accomplished in the mine train. From the mouth of the Poschhaus gallery at Maiern, visitors can either return by coach or descend along the 'tourist route' along the rails of the transport system. The excursion can be made in any weather.
Total time: including an hour's break at midday, 7 hours. Don't forget to book!
Long tour
(may also be done starting from Passeier)
At Maiern, visitors are given complete miners' equipment and are taken by coach to Poschhaus (2,112 m). The trip across the Schneebergscharte (2,700 m) is a wonderful experience for expert walkers. As well as the landscape of the Stubai Alps, every step shows some sign of centuries of mining.
Part of the path directly crosses the Lazzach track.
Searching for ore, with a guide's help, is planned for the ore dumps near St. Martin. Lunch may be eaten in the refuge hut. Then the tour continues with a visit to the exhibition halls and the mining village of St. Martin am Schneeberg. After a descent through the mining landscape until the treeline on the Passeier side, the return journey begins at the Lazzacher Tal underground, through the main 17th-century Karl gallery, 6 km long. The group walks along certain stretches where water is almost knee-deep, through narrow parts, along shafts and various levels of excavation, until the station, the end of the Poschhaus gallery.
The trip with the original mine train, lasting about 20 minutes through the Poschhaus gallery, is very noisy. The return to Maiern is by coach. In poor weather, St. Martin is not reached across the Schneebergscharte, but through the Poschhaus and Karl galleries as far as the miners' village.
Departure: 7.30 a.m., total time about 10 hours. Don't forget to book!
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history
history of mining on Schneeberg
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