Goldgräberdorf Heiligenblut

Gold und Silberschurfgemeinschaft Heiligenblut

Useful Information

Location:	Fleiß 10, 9844 Fleiß. At the Großklockner Paßstraße, Auffangparkplatz Handelsbrücke in the Kleines Fleißtal. 15 minutes walk. (47.045075, 12.902842)
Open:	JUN daily 11-16. JUL to AUG daily 10-17. SEP daily 11-16. [2025]
Fee:	Freilichtmuseum: frei. Führungen: Erwachsene EUR 4. Goldwaschen: Erwachsene EUR 9, Kinder (0–6) frei. [2025]
Classification:	Gold Mine Silver Mine Copper Mine
Light:	n/a.
Dimension:
Guided tours:
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:	R. F. Ertl (1975): Die Geschichte des Tauerngoldes, in: Tauerngold. Veröffentlichungen aus dem Naturhistorischen Museum. Neue Folge 10. Wien. pdf
Address:	Goldgräberdorf Heiligenblut, Fleiß 10, 9844 Fleiß, Tel. +43-4824-24655. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1974	first tourist attraction with gold panning started.
1999	Goldwäscherverein Heiligenblut founded.
2004	created for the Kärntner Landesausstellung wasser.gold 2004.

Geology

The crstalline rocks at Heiligenblut are famous for their variety of ores and minerals. These were formed in fissures where hydrothermal waters circulated under high pressure and high temperature. The temperature difference between the top and bottom caused convection. The water dissolved various substances in the rock at the bottom and deposited them again at the top of the fissures. Thus, the fissures first filled with water and then with the growing minerals. Tectonic forces created the fissures through separation, which were then often closed again by the deposition of minerals at the same rate at which they had been formed by orogenesis.

The most important mineral found here is gold, less important but in higher amounts silver is found, both are ores which formed in clefts together with quartz. There is a whole family of sulfides, like chalcopyrite, sphalenite and galenite. Thera are fluorites in various varieties and magnetites. The most common mineral is quartz, which is found in uncountable variations: rock crystal, citrine, amethyste. There are numerous other minerals found, which makes this area an important area for mineral collectors. The locals who collect minerals are called Strahler, which is derived from the old name Strahl (beam) for rock crystals.

The gold was either washed in the brooks where it was deposited after the original gold bearing cleft was eroded, or it was mined in underground mines. The gold panning was a common work for local farmers, who did it while they had free time on their farm. It was done with a pan locally called Saxe, which was made of wood.

Description

The Goldgräberdorf Heiligenblut (Gold Mining Village Heiligenblut) is an open air museum which was created in 2004 for the Kärntner Landesausstellung wasser.gold 2004, a sort of cultural fair organized by the country Kärnten (Carinthia). It documents the history of the famous gold mining era at Heiligenblut and offers gold panning and guided tours. It has various replicas of typical buildings and machines. This starts with a replica of a mine tunnel, which, however, consists only of an entrance and a mine cart and cannot be entered. Next to it is a miner’s hut, a working mountain smithy, and wooden boats that illustrate how ore was transported across Lake Zirmsee. An unusual feature is a Sackzugstation (sack pull station) from which the gold-bearing ore was brought down to the valley on a so-called Samsteig using Samzüge (sack pulls). These are wooden chutes on which, in winter, two men guided 20 to 25 sacks filled to the brim with gold ore downhill as a so-called sack pull. There is also an Erzscheideplatz (ore sorting area), a Röststadl (roasting barn), a Pochwerk (stamp mill), a Salzburger Amalgamiermühle (Salzburg amalgamation mill) and a Schmelzhütte (smelting hut). This provides a clear illustration of the entire process from ore mining to smelting.

This area was of importance since the Stone Age, when people searched for stone for tools, but also for precious gems and metals, and gold was found here in pure form, but only in small amounts. Important was the collection of rock crystals by men from Venice, who did this illegally.

While gold washing always had been an additional income for the farmers, the gold became important during the centuries. At first open cast mines were built where gold bearing sediments were quarried. Then the people started to mine the quartz clefts and followed them underground. During the 15th century they worked with Hammer und Eisen (hammer and chisel), heated the ore with fires and cooled it down abruptly with cold water. During the 16th and 17th century, the use of black powder was the reason for the heydays of Tauern gold.

The ore was mined in Stollen (tunnels), transported out of the mine in so called Hunte, the miner term for small carriages, often with a nail and a wooden rail which was a predecessor of a railroad. The material from the mine was sorted in the Erzscheideplatz also called Scheidcram, both are ancient miners terms. The ore was heated in the Röststadel (raosting barn), which evaporated the sulfur and wore down the ore which made the next step easier. In the waterwheel driven Pochwerk (crusher) the ore was crushed and the fine sand was washed down with more water and the gold collected in mud pools. All those steps in the gold production process are shown in the open air museum.

The gold bearing mud was called Feinschlich, and the gold was separated from the mud with mercury. The mercury was thrown into the mud and stirred for three weeks in an iron cauldron. It amalgamated with gold and siver, and all three then could be collected easily from the mud. The gold silver amalgam was heated, the mercury evaporated and was condensed to be reused. The gold and silver could be separated by using aqua fortis, a special acid which solutes silver but not gold. All those processes are dangerous and poisonous, so they are not shown in the museum. Fortunately the production here was always rather small, so nature destruction was on a low level. Nevertheless, work at the mine was hard because of bad smells, noise, and all the poisonous substances.