Historische Silbergruben Oberzeiring

Useful Information

Location:	Oberzeiring (47°15'8.43"N, 14°29'11.29"E)
Open:	MAY to OCT daily 9:45, 11, 13:45, 15. NOV to APR Wed 16. Or by appointment. [2007]
Fee:	Adults EUR 6, Children (6-14) EUR 3.50, Children (4-5) free, Children (0-3) not allowed, Family (2+1) EUR 12. Groups (8+): Adults EUR 5. [2007]
Classification:	Silver Mine
Light:	electric.
Dimension:	L=40,000m.
Guided tours:	D=50min.
Bibliography:
Address:	Historische Silbergruben Oberzeiring, 8762 Oberzeiring, Tel: +43-3571-387. Verkehrsverein Oberzeiring, Marktplatz 5, 8762 Oberzeiring, Tel: +43-3571-2378. E-mail: Hr. Stuhlpfarrer, 8762 Oberzeiring, Tel. +43-676-9761455, E-mail:
Last update:	$Date: 2008/07/01 20:15:37 $

History


1000 BC		.
1279		Rudolph, the first Habsburgs emperor, visited Oberzeiring.
1284		right to mint their own coins granted.
14th cty		mining reached its peak.
1339		Zeyringer mining rules installed.
1361		mine flooded.
1365		Oberzeiring lost the right to mint their own coins.
1698		mining of some iron.
1783		iron mining by Freiherr Dr. von Kranz.
1832		iron mining continued by Family Neuper from Unterzeiring.
1885		iron mining ended.
1921		last try to pump the water by engineer Setz from Vienna.
1953		barite mining in the northern part of the mine.
1963		barite mining ended.
1957		celtic urn-grave discobvered in the center of the village.
03-MAR-1958		show mine opened to the public.

Description

The Historische Silbergruben Oberzeiring (Historic Silver Mines Oberzeiring) is a museum with a show mine. The museum has numerous mining exhibits like forming punchs for minting, tools and vessels for mining, but also archaeological exhibits like the illyrian urn-grave from around 900 BC. There is a show mine and a tunnel for speleotherapy.

The silver mine at Oberzeiring was once the biggest silver mine in the eastern Alps. Right where the show mine is today, in the Piergrube, lies a lot called Freudental (Valley of Joy), named such because of the enormous amounts of silver. The dimensions are impressive: the mining area is 25km long, the tunnels are more than 40km long. The most important mine was right below the village Oberzeiring, covering an area of 2km by 3km and up to 100m deep. This is a guess, the exact depth and size is unknown as the mine is flooded to 35m below ground.

The heyday of local silver mining was in the first half of the 14th century. Starting with a visit by the first Habsburgs emperor Rudolph in 1279, the importance of the silver mines grew rapidly. During this time the town was bestowed the market rights, got a free zone of about 10km², and various other privileges. The most important privileges were definitely the right to mint their own coins (1284) called Zeyringer Pfennig, and their own jurisdiction, a high-court with special judges and the Zeyringer mining rules.

But all this ended in 1361, when the miners hit a lead of ground water and the mine was flooded. According to a chronicle 1400 miners drowned, which makes this one of the biggest mining catastrophies of all times. But the mine could not be drained again, and so silver mining came to a final end, which meant the total destruction of all priviledges during the next decades. In 1365 the right to mint coins was lost, in 1663 the mining jurisdiction was abrogated and transferred to Eisenerz. The Habsburgs tried several times to drain the mine and get hold of the silver, others tried too, but until today it was impossible to lower the ground water table enough.

Historische Silbergruben Oberzeiring

Useful Information

History

Description

See also